Putin attacks Ukraine opposition's demand for revote

Russian President Vladimir Putin become more deeply embroiled in the Ukrainian crisis today and attacked the opposition’s push to repeat the nation’s disputed presidential run-off election.

He told Ukraine’s outgoing President Leonid Kuchma, who had flown to Moscow for an emergency meeting, that a revote would be pointless.

Meeting Kuchma at a government airport outside the capital, Putin said he was surprised by the idea of repeating the November 21 runoff, which Ukraine’s opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko is demanding.

West leaning Yushchenko says ballot rigging robbed him of victory and has filed an appeal with the Supreme Court against the official results, which declared the Kremlin backed Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych the winner.

The court today rejected Yanukovych’s objections to parts of the opposition’s appeal, leaving open the possibility that the judges might name Yushchenko the president based on the first-round results, which he won.

“A revote could be conducted a third, a fourth, 25th time, until one side gets the results it needs,” Putin said sarcastically at Vnukovo-2 airport.

Kuchma has called for a completely new election to be held, rather than just a repetition of the runoff, in the apparent hope of finding a compromise candidate to replace Yanukovych.

Kuchma told Putin that “I don’t know a single country that has such a legal norm as a revote.”

A meeting between the two sides mediated by European officials in Kiev last night pointed to a new vote, but left it unclear whether it would be a repetition of the runoff or a whole new election.

Putin again warned the West not to interfere in the crisis. The European parliament has backed Yushchenko’s call for a repeat of the runoff.

“Neither Russia, nor the European Union, nor international organisations will solve the problems,” he said. “They all can play the role of mediators, but the Ukrainian people have the last word.”

Putin also said Russia was “concerned about the tendencies of a split of the country, and we support your efforts aimed at strengthening the integrity of the state.” Kuchma has warned against divisive actions after Yanukovych supporters in eastern Ukraine threatened to seek autonomy if Yushchenko is declared president.

Ukraine is divided roughly between Yanukovych supporters in the east who favour close Russian ties and Yushchenko backers in the west who are wary of Moscow’s centuries-old clout in the country.

Kuchma flew to Russia to meet his influential counterpart as opposition protesters at home continued to surround government buildings in the Ukrainian capital and the Supreme Court considered Yushchenko’s appeal to scrap his favoured successor’s runoff victory.

Putin also supported Yanukovych in Ukraine’s presidential election, amid Kremlin fears that a Yushchenko victory could drag the nation of 48 million further from Moscow’s sphere of influence.

“We are not indifferent about what is happening there,” Putin said. He praised Kuchma for keeping control of the situation.

Kuchma suggested the opposition was to blame for Ukraine’s crisis, saying that “the Ukraine that existed before the elections no longer exists. They have divided it.

“One side is not taking the opinion of the other into account, and this policy is being pursued in a forceful, revolutionary way, without regard for the economic consequences.”