Edited for brevity.
Outgoing Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma won Vladimir Putin's backing Thursday against calls for a quick re-run of the last round of the disputed presidential election the opposition is certain it would win. The move by the Russian president underlines the Kremlin's nervousness that if Ukraine's opposition presidential candidate Viktor Yushchenko took power he would weaken traditional links with Moscow and push Ukraine deeper into the West's embrace. Alleging the election was rigged, the opposition demands an early repeat of the Nov. 21 run-off vote between Yushchenko and Viktor Yanukovich, who was backed by both Kuchma and Putin. Kuchma is trying to force a completely new election from scratch, a longer process which could favor his candidate. He flew to Russia Thursday. "A repeat of the run-off vote may fail to work," Putin told Kuchma at an airport meeting outside Moscow.
In a fresh sign of the strain the crisis is placing on relations between Russia and the West, President Bush made a clear jab at Moscow's involvement, saying outsiders should not meddle in any new election. "I think any election, if there is one, ought to be free from any foreign influence. These elections ought to be open and fair," Bush told a reporter who had asked his views on a potential election and the prospect of Russian influence. |