Yanukovych Billboards Dot Moscow

By Francesca Mereu and Anatoly Medetsky Staff Writers
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2004/10/18/004.html

Dozens of billboards and banners backing Ukrainian Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych are lining the streets of Moscow ahead of Ukraine's presidential election on Oct. 31.

The billboards, which ostensibly aim to get out the Ukrainian expatriate vote, appear to be a show of Kremlin support for Yanukovych, Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma's chosen successor.
"Ukrainians in Russia Choose Viktor Yanukovych for President," says one billboard, which depicts a smiling Yanukovych."Ukrainians in Russia Are for Viktor Yanukovych," reads another, showing a serious Yanukovych against a backdrop of wheat fields.

It is unclear who paid for the billboards, although former Kremlin political consultant Sergei Markov said they were probably sponsored by Russia-based Ukrainian organizations.
Their goal, Markov said, is "to underline that Russia backs Yanukovych."

Igor Mintusov, chairman of political consulting agency Nikkolo M, agreed, saying, "The presidential administration is just telling people that it supports Yanukovych."
The billboards "are not intended to attract voters," he said.

That's just as well because there are only 4,000 eligible voters in Moscow and the Moscow region, according to Anatoly Bezgrebelny, head of the elections commission at the Ukrainian Embassy.

Ukrainian election officials in Kiev and Moscow were unable Friday to give a total for the number of eligible voters in Russia.

Moreover, there are no accurate figures on how many Ukrainian citizens live in Russia, with estimates ranging from 1.5 million to 7 million.

Alexei Tolpygo, an analyst with the Kiev Center for Political and Conflict Studies, said the numbers are useless because few Ukrainian expatriates will vote anyway.

"People are afraid the police might check their documents when they leave polling stations," he said, referring to the fact that many Ukrainians work in Russia illegally.

"On the other hand, people are not very interested in voting. They are passive," he said Friday by telephone from Kiev.

Tolpygo said that 100,000 votes from Russia would be a great achievement -- but just a drop in the bucket compared to the number of potential votes in Ukraine, which has 38 million eligible voters in a population of 48 million. Bezgrebelny said last week that voters in Moscow and the Moscow region will be able to vote at the embassy, Newsinfo.ru reported.

Three other polling stations will open at the Ukrainian consulates in St. Petersburg, Rostov-on-Don and Tyumen.

Tyumen Consul General Nikolai Shevchuk said 3,126 Ukrainians were registered to vote in the area, which includes the Urals, Siberia and the Far North. Many of them work for oil and gas companies in the Far North, and they have asked that three polling stations open closer to their work, he said. Kiev is considering the request.