UKRAINE: Cracks appeared last night in the fragile international consensus on how to manage Ukraine's political crisis with Russia and the European Union at odds over new elections, and the United States issuing a barbed warning for Moscow not to meddle. Chris Stephen reports in Kiev
Russian president Mr Vladimir Putin, meeting Ukraine's outgoing president Mr Leonid Kuchma for talks at Moscow airport, said the solution to the country's political deadlock lay in re-running the entire election process from scratch.
Meanwhile, the European Parliament backed Ukraine's opposition in calling for a re-run only of the disputed second round of the elections, in order to see voting held before Christmas and a speedy end to the crisis.
US president Mr George Bush, asked in Washington on his views on Russian influence in Ukraine's electoral process, said: "I think any election, if there is one, ought to be free from any foreign influence. These elections should be open and fair."
These contrasting statements appear to open up rifts between the West and Moscow which began two weeks ago when international monitors claimed the November 21st vote was rigged, while President Putin congratulated the winner, prime minister Mr Victor Yanokovich.
Now Mr Putin has come down on the side of Mr Kuchma, who wants an entirely new election process, possibly to allow him time to groom a new candidate to stand in for the discredited Mr Yanokovich.
The Russian president said holding only the second round run-off, between Mr Yanokovich and Mr Yushchenko, would prove ineffective in finding a new president: "A new vote for the second round might prove useless," he said in televised remarks. Then what? A third, fourth, 25thtime? This could continue as long as one of the sides does not obtain the result it needs."
Meanwhile, the European parliamentarians have thrown their weight behind Ukraine's opposition, who fear they will run out of money, and momentum, if forced to wait three or four months for entirely fresh elections.
In Kiev itself, the Supreme Court finished a fourth day of deliberations still unable to decide whether the November 22nd vote was free or not. And on the streets of the Ukrainian capital, opposition protesters remained out in force, trudging from squares to parliament and back. While a sudden thaw turned icy streets to slush, the mood in the Ukrainian capital yesterday went the other way, following a night of celebrations and fireworks on Wednesday after prime minister Mr Yanokovich agreed to call for fresh elections.
"I am optimistic. This happens to Ukrainians only once every thousand years because Ukrainians are very patient people, we don't usually get this fired-up," said Mr Vitaly Kabanchuk (24). "As long as we keep this momentum, we will win."