Putin aide sees Ukraine dispute as major test

A top aide to Russia’s President Vladimir Putin today called Ukraine’s election dispute a major test of Russia’s relations with the West and accused politicians in the United States and Europe of fomenting political change in former Soviet republics.

But Sergei Yastrzhembsky, Putin’s special representative for ties with the European Union, said he does not see a ”serious chill” in relations with Europe and that it is not in either side’s interest to alienate the other.