Ukraine Presidential Candidate Reaches East

14/11/2004 10:03 AM
Ron Popeski

West-leaning Ukraine presidential candidate Viktor Yushchenko launched a foray on Saturday into the hostile Russian-speaking east in a campaign to beat Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich in a November 21 run-off poll.

Both candidates scored around 40 percent in the first round of the presidential elections, forcing a run-off which could determine whether the ex-Soviet state will follow Yuschhenko's westward vision or his rival's push for closer Moscow ties.

Yushchenko has been portrayed as unfriendly towards Russia and drew most of his first round support from Ukraine's nationalist western and central regions. Eastern Ukraine contains the ex-Soviet state's highest number of Russian speakers and forms the backbone of Yanukovich's support.

Despite flagging appeal in the industrial east, Yushchenko told a rally in the Yanukovich stronghold of Kharkiv that he stood for good relations with Moscow.

"If you think in normal terms about Ukraine, Russia will always be our northern neighbour, our strategic partner. This can be a secret for no one," Yushchenko told the 15,000 people gathered in Ukraine's second city.

In a speech where he switched from Ukrainian into Russian - unthinkable at a rally in Kiev or western Ukraine - Yushchenko pledged that neither Russia nor the millions of Russian speakers in his country would be forgotten if he were elected.

He also reminded voters, in an area where first round votes went 4-1 in favour of Yanukovich, that Ukraine had to improve ties with the West now that three of its neighbours, Slovakia, Poland and Hungary were members of the European Union.

"Our policy should not be dictated by geography but by our interests," he said.

Yanukovich is backed by Ukraine's outgoing president, Leonid Kuchma, and on Friday Russian President Vladimir Putin visited Ukraine for the second time in a tense campaign, embracing Yanukovich and wishing him good luck on polling day.

The prime minister has promoted improved links with Russia as the key to future prosperity and has also called for Russian to be made an official language alongside Ukrainian.

Yushchenko did not restate the fierce opposition of liberals to such a move, which they say would undermine Ukraine's fragile post-Soviet identity.

But he said that with millions of Russian speakers in Ukraine, "it's up to us to make them feel at home in terms of language, education and television.

"But I want you to understand the other side, I am a Ukrainian, it's natural for me to speak and think in Ukrainian, just as my mother and father did."

Yanukovich was also campaigning in eastern Ukraine on Saturday, addressing students in the industrial town of Dnipropetrovsk ahead of the run-off of an election that has been marked by mutual accusations of dirty tricks and cheating.