Ex-Soviet bloc states mull election

BBC News
Nov 27 2004

Ukrainian opposition supporters have displayed the Georgian flag
Several countries in the former Soviet bloc have lined up behind
Russia in endorsing the disputed result of Ukraine’s presidential
election.

A notable exception is Georgia, which on the first anniversary of its
own “rose” revolution sees itself as having led where Ukraine now
follows.

Moldova has also openly broken ranks by criticising the conduct of
the polls.

Approval

Following the congratulatory message sent by Russian President
Vladimir Putin to the pro-Moscow candidate Viktor Yanukovych, Belarus
President Alexander Lukashenko telephoned the latter to offer his own
congratulations before the results had been declared.

Mr Lukashenko’s press office said that during the conversation, “the
president said he was completely confident that relations between
Ukraine and Belarus will continue to develop as dynamically as they
have done in the past”.

The presidents of three Central Asian countries also added their
voices.

“Your victory shows that the Ukrainian people have made a choice in
favour of the unity of the nation, of democratic development and
economic progress,” Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev wrote in a
letter to Mr Yanukovych.

Uzbek President Islam Karimov sent his “sincere congratulations” to
Mr Yanukovych.

What is happening in Ukraine today clearly attests to the
importance of Georgia’s example for the rest of the world

Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili
The UzReport.com web site quoted Mr Karimov as saying he was “deeply
convinced that the acting Ukrainian prime minister’s activity in the
high post will serve to further strengthen the country’s independence
and the prosperity of its people”.

Kyrgyz President Askar Askayev also sent a message to Mr Yanukovych
expressing his satisfaction.

“On behalf of the Kyrgyz people, and from me personally, please
accept congratulations on the occasion of your election to the high
post of Ukrainian president,” the message said.

The state-controlled media in Turkmenistan have yet to report the
outcome of the polls.

Stability call

Two other CIS countries, Armenia and Azerbaijan, were more
ambivalent, stressing that the most important thing was to preserve
the unity and stability of Ukraine.

Armenian President Robert Kocharyan said that he had not favoured
either candidate, but was prepared to congratulate whichever one the
Ukrainian election commission decided was the winner.

“The sooner the tension subsides, the better,” Armenia’s Noyan Tapan
news agency quoted him as saying.

A member of the Azerbaijani government also expressed concern that
Ukraine could become destabilised.

Deputy Foreign Minister Araz Azimov was quoted by the Azerbaijani
news agency Turan as saying it was important to prevent the country
from splitting into two.

Dissent

The message coming from Georgia was unashamedly pro-opposition.
President Mikhail Saakashvili said he was proud that Georgian flags
were being flown by Ukrainian opposition supporters in Kiev.

In November 2003, an alliance of opposition parties led by Mr
Saakashvili challenged the results of parliamentary elections that
initially declared the party of veteran leader Eduard Shevardnadze
the winner.

“What is happening in Ukraine today clearly attests to the importance
of Georgia’s example for the rest of the world,” he said in a
statement broadcast by Georgia’s Rustavi-2 TV.

Moldova also raised concerns over the conduct of the election.

The country’s foreign ministry issued a statement saying that “basic
democratic principles were distorted” and expressing regret that the
poll “lacked the objective criteria necessary for their recognition
by both the citizens of Ukraine and the international community”.