Violence feared as Kremlin's man declared winner

Tempers were rising as temperatures plummeted in Ukraine tonight and the talks of revolution was in the air after officials declared that Kremlin-backed Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych had been elected president.

It sharpened a crisis sparked by the opposition candidate’s allegations that the vote was rigged.

The announcement raised fears of violence in the streets of the capital Kiev, where tens of thousands of supporters of opposition candidate Viktor Yushchenko have gathered in the snow for three days demanding the results be overturned.

Within minutes of the announcement by the Central Election Commission, some opposition supporters began heading from their encampment on Kiev’s central avenue to the presidential administration building.

That building was the scene of a tense stand-off on Tuesday night, as protesters faced a phalanx of shield-wielding riot police.

Outside the election commission building, throngs of Yanukovych supporters celebrated by guzzling vodka and shouting their candidate’s name.

No Yushchenko supporters were seen around the building. The opposition has said it is concerned security forces or Yanukovych supporters might take action to clear the opposition protests once a victory for the prime minister was certified.

Yushchenko earlier appealed to security forces not to strike out at the protesters but to “rise to the defence of the people”.

Yanukovych got 49.46% of Sunday’s vote, against Yushchenko’s 46.61%, the commission said at a meeting in giving the final results.

Supporters of the prime minister at the meeting began chanting “Yanukovych!” and waving his blue and white campaign scarves.

Western election observers said the vote was seriously flawed and did not meet democratic standards, and exit polls showed a victory for Yushchenko, a pro-Western reformer.

Yushchenko told his supporters that a symbolic oath of office that he took a day earlier “was the first step, but we need to carry on to the end. God forbid anybody doubts that we will win.”

He said he was not opposed to a repeat vote – if the Central Election commission is made up of different people.

Outgoing President Leonid Kuchma called for talks involving all sides, and Yushchenko’s allies initially appeared to be open to it.

But Mykola Tomenko, an MP and Yushchenko ally, told a crowd of supporters – awash with the opposition’s orange campaign colour – that it would only discuss Kuchma relinquishing power.

“We are ready to negotiate only about the peaceful handing over of power to Yushchenko by Kuchma,” Tomenko told the crowd, which maintained its vigil on the capital’s central Independence Square and the adjacent main avenue despite snow and freezing temperatures.

The election has led to an increasingly tense tug-of-war between Western nations and Russia, which considers Ukraine part of its sphere of influence and a buffer against eastward-expanding Nato.

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso warned of “consequences” for the European Union’s political and trade relations with Ukraine if its government there does not allow a “serious, objective review” of the election.

At risk might be around 3670 million the bloc has given or committed to Ukraine since 1991 in development and economic aid and possible visa bans on politicians and officials.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has already congratulated Yanukovych on his victory, and the Kremlin-controlled Russian parliament denounced the Ukrainian opposition for its “illegal actions”.

Former Polish President Lech Walesa, whose Solidarity movement kick-started the downfall of the Soviet Union, was flying to Kiev tonight to act as a mediator.

Opposition supporters have taken over blocks of Kiev’s main street, setting up a giant tent camp.

But Yanukovych supporters have become increasingly visible in the capital, vowing to prevent the opposition from taking power. They have set up hundreds of tents on a wooded slope less than half a mile from the opposition’s even larger encampment.

At one point, several dozen people from each side faced off near the cabinet building, shouting insults at each other, though there were no reports of violence.

A miner from Kriviy Rih in eastern Ukraine who would only give his first name of Mykola said he came to the capital to prevent the “usurping of power”.

“We have no one to bring us food and clothes as our opponents do,” he said, referring to the huge outpouring of support from Kiev residents for the Yushchenko supporters camping out in the cold.

“But we will win because we believe in Ukraine.”

Ukrainian Defence Minister Oleksandr Kuzmuk, vowed that the military “will always serve only the people’s interests”.

Yushchenko has accused authorities of rigging Sunday’s vote in favour of Yanukovych and has announced a campaign of civil disobedience.

In sign of defiance to the government, 14 journalists from state television’s main news programme announced a strike today.

Kiev’s city council and four other cities have refused to recognise a Yanukovych victory.

The White House had urged Ukraine not to certify the official results until fraud allegations are investigated, saying it was “deeply disturbed by extensive and credible indications of fraud”, according to spokeswoman Claire Buchan.

Secretary of State Colin Powell said the US cannot accept the election result as there were too many indications of fraud.

He warned tonight “there will be consequences” for the US’s relationship with Ukraine.