President at last - Yushchenko plans Kremlin trip

Viktor Yushchenko will be inaugurated Ukraine’s new president on Sunday, setting the stage for the transition to a new government following months of divisive political crisis.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, whose strong praise for his opponent Viktor Yanukovych during the election campaign raised criticism of Kremlin meddling, congratulated Yushchenko, whose office swiftly announced he would visit Moscow just a day after the inauguration.

Yushchenko had indicated earlier that his first foreign visit as president would be to Russia, but the timing suggested a strong desire to smooth relations with Ukraine’s economically critical neighbour even as he pushes for closer integration with Western Europe.

Yushchenko’s spokeswoman Irina Herashenko said the visit to Moscow would be followed a day later by a trip to Strasbourg, to address the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.

He plans to speak at the European Parliament on January 27.

Putin’s support for Yanukovych, who was seen as likely to nudge Ukraine closer into the Kremlin’s sphere of influence, was viewed as an attempt to interfere in Ukraine. Many people in the east are native Russian speakers and fear a rise of Ukrainian nationalism under Yushchenko.

“Accept my congratulations and warmest wishes in connection with your election to the post of president of Ukraine,” Putin said in a statement.

“The development of good-neighbourly and equal relations with Ukraine is one of the most important national priorities of Russia,” he said. “I am convinced that the subsequent deepening of our strategic partnership in full will fulfil the long-term interests of our peoples.”

Outgoing President Leonid Kuchma also congratulated Yushchenko, according to his office. Kuchma, whose decade in power was marked by pressure against opposition forces and independent news media and allegations of corruption, had Yanukovych as his favoured successor.

Yanukovych declared he would continue his opposition to Yushchenko, but called on supporters to tear down small protest camps they had set up in several cities.

“Let us dismantle our tent cities and begin a new political struggle that requires a different type of bravery and tenacity,” he said.

The swearing-in ceremony in Parliament on Sunday will be followed by a military ceremony at Mariinsky Palace, the presidential ceremonial building.

Then Yushchenko will make a speech at Independence Square, the centre of the huge demonstrations that broke out after a November 21 election in which he was declared the loser. T

he Supreme Court declared that election invalid, citing massive vote fraud, and ordered the Dec. 26 rerun, which Yushchenko won.