The race for Ukraine’s Presidency is hotting up.  With the incumbent serial Kremlin-offender Viktor Yushchenko flagging with ratings of just 3%, it seems that battle has truly commenced between Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko and opposition leader Viktor Yanukovych.  Russia-Ukraine relations have considerably suffered under Yushchenko’s leadership -  will Tymoshenko, the other, (lest it be forgot) architect of the Orange Revolution, be West or East-leaning?  RFE/RL quotes her as suggesting that whilst involvement with Europe will be prioritized, warmer Russia relations may be on the cards:

I’m sure that our relations with the Russian Federation can be equal and respectable, open and honest, without ambiguities.

Or is she planning an altogether different kind of homage to Russia?  Yevgeny Kiselyov in the Moscow Times wonders if ’she’
(as the Prime Minister is enigmatically described on her campaign
posters) harbors neo-Putinesque ambitions for running Ukraine:

As
paradoxical as it might seem, many of the same people who during the
Orange Revolution five years ago stood for days in downtown Kiev,
protesting the falsified election results favoring Yanukovych and
called for the new, fair elections today, see a January victory for
Yanukovych as the best and last chance to stop Tymoshenko from
achieving absolute control over the country. Many people who are
personally acquainted with Tymoshenko are convinced that if she wins
the elections, she will try to establish an authoritarian regime along
the lines of the one built by Vladimir Putin. Some even contend that
Tymoshenko openly admires Putin as a politician and wants to copy his
policies. Many suspect that she would like to set strict loyalty rules
with Ukraine’s oligarchs, similar to the ones set by Putin after former
Yukos CEO Mikhail Khodorkovsky was arrested and jailed, and to put the
country’s main media outlets — especially major television stations –
under government control.

Last 5 posts by Robert Amsterdam

• Energy Blast - Nov 25, 2009 - November 25th, 2009
• Today in Russian Business - Nov 25, 2009 - November 25th, 2009
• RA's Daily Russian News Blast - Nov 25, 2009 - November 25th, 2009
• Mr. Chávez's Neighborhood - November 24th, 2009
• Hermitage Defense Team Under Attack following Death Threats - November 24th, 2009