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DONETSK, Ukraine - A little over 1,200 euros (S$2,100) might seem a small price to pay for self-rule, but that's how much vote organisers in this would-be republic say they have spent on a referendum on Sunday that has the potential to plunge Ukraine into civil war.

Five hundred euros, or 8,000 hryvnia, went on toner for three borrowed printers that have churned out ballot papers for more than three million eligible participants in the vote, which has been declared illegal by Kiev.

The list of voters is two years old and there will be no minimum turnout required for the result to stand. Nor have any outside observers been invited to the area which pro-Russian rebels have declared a "People's Republic". "Do you support the act of self-rule of the People's Republic of Donetsk?" the ballot paper asks, using a vague term which can also mean sovereignty.

Bar a small illustration at either end of the ballot paper, the black-and-white printed page contains no special markings that might prevent it being duplicated. "Okay, it's not really in line with the law, but I think that's the only way out," said Roman Lyagin, the 33-year-old head of Donetsk's hastily-established election commission.

The amateur air of Sunday's plebiscite in eastern Ukraine belies the ramifications it carries for the worst East-West standoff since the end of the Cold War.

The potential for manipulation is enormous.

Ukraine's state security service has already released what it says is a taped phone conversation between a Russian nationalist leader and rebel chief in Donetsk in which the Russian tells him to fake the result. "Just do what you like and write that it was 99 per cent," the voice says.

Reuters cannot independently verify the tape's authenticity.

Voting will run between 8 a.m. and 10 p.m. (0500-1900 GMT), when counting will begin at 53 locations across the rebel zones of Donetsk and Luhansk.

The ballot boxes will then be brought by car to the regional capitals through checkpoints manned variously by pro-Russian militiamen and Ukrainian security forces, who are in the process of trying to dislodge the separatists.

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Ukraine rebels' no-frills referendum fraught with perils