Ukraine braces for tense election

Yushchenko, a former prime minister and central banker, says he will accelerate economic reforms to prepare for Ukraine's yearned-for entry into the EU.

Though he is a moderate liberal who stands for good relations with Russia, Ukraine's state-dominated media have relentlessly cast Yushchenko as a lapdog of Western interests. Though careful not to endorse a candidate, Western governments hope Ukraine will avoid a post-Soviet slide toward autocratic rule, as has happened in Belarus.

"Of course relations between our countries may not be so warm, but nothing dangerous for Russia will happen if Yushchenko wins the elections," says Vyacheslav Igrunov, director of the independent Institute for Humanitarian and Political Studies in Moscow.

Opposition leaders are furious over what they describe as the direct interference of Russian President Vladimir Putin, who arrived Tuesday for a three-day election-eve visit, ostensibly to attend a huge military parade marking the 60th anniversary of Kiev's liberation from the Nazis on Thursday.

In an hourlong interview broadcast on Ukraine's three main TV channels Tuesday, Mr. Putin extolled his plan for a post-Soviet Unified Economic Space - a customs union that would join Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, and Kazakhstan - and praised Yanukovich as a man the Kremlin can do business with.

"The government of Viktor Yanukovich has done more" than just deliver strong economic growth, Putin said. "It has achieved growth of high quality."

Yanukovich's backers deny all charges of official bias and counter that the opposition is adopting aggressive street tactics to compensate for its dwindling popular support.

A huge pro-Yushchenko rally in Kiev last weekend ended in minor violence when some protesters tried to push their way into the headquarters of Ukraine's Central Elections Commission.

Yushchenko has pledged to bring a half-million supporters into the streets of Kiev after the first round of voting this Sunday, supposedly to guard against electoral fraud. Yanukovich's people charge that it is actually a threat to stage a coup if the polls don't go his way.

"The opposition have made it clear that if the results don't suit them, they won't consider the elections legitimate," says Ms. Bogatyrova. "I fear we can expect some actions from them."

Thousands of international observers will be on hand for Sunday's voting, and their judgment may be crucial to the survival of democracy in Ukraine, some experts say.

"There is a lot of electricity in the air here," says Oleksandr Shushko, director of the independent Center for Peace, Conversion, and Foreign Policy in Kiev.

"I do not believe these elections will be free and fair, and that means there are critical days ahead," he adds. "If there is a widespread perception that the election has been stolen, everything will depend on how the public responds. The reaction of the authorities is already clear: They are preparing for war."

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