Ukraine's presidential election

Orange squashed

Viktor Yanukovich seems the likely winner of Ukraine’s presidential election

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Razums: I grew up in Odessa and still remember all the lies that flag waving west Ukraine nationalists told people in 1991 during the referendum on Ukrainian independence. They said that Ukraine fed all of the USSR, had most of its industrial base and would prosper tremendously if only it was unshackled from that state. And what happened? Ukrainian economy dropped by over 60% in the 1990s from the pre-collapse level. No, Boredome is right about Ukraine's "Africa-in-Europe" status. Russian GDP per capita is at least 3X now what it is in Ukraine. I have nothing but contempt for the scoundrels that got Ukraine into this terrible mess.

As for the politics of language, I can't speak for anyone who lives in Ukraine now, since I haven't been back in decades, but I view the post-Soviet language policy there as a complete disaster. People need to remember history. Until 1945, West and East Ukraine had not been a part of a single political entity since perhaps the days of the Polish-Lithuanian commonwealth. It's not surprising then that East Ukraine is predominantly Russian-speaking. And when it comes to the South, Odessa, Sevastopol are cities built by the Russian Empire on land that belonged to the Tatars (when I grew up in Odessa in the 80s I never heard Ukrainian spoken outside of classroom). With history in mind, and given that such a huge part of the population in 1991 (80%) primarily spoke Russian, how could politicians possibly think that eliminating Russian as an official state language would be a good idea? Unfortunately, language and culture policy was driven entirely by West Ukraine nationalists; a tragedy really. It's one thing to encourage people to learn Ukrainian, the national language; it's quite another to try to displace entirely a language and culture shared by more than half the country. It's not surprising Ukraine is so divided.


For Russians its important. Why? So that the bureaucrat that steals their money does so while speaking Russian? This is why Ukraine is doomed. Its leaders are peasant fools, but they lord over a country full of peasants who think that speaking Russian and being "friends" with Moscow will magically bring back in the 1980s. It wont. But no one in Russia or Ukraine seems to realize this.


"In any event, this election was not about geopolitics but about Ukraine’s own governance and economy."

Oh no? How is that possible, specially considering that in the same article you've said that the winner was mostly backed by russian-speaking Ukraininans?


Number 16 -

Your comparison between Russian/Ukrainian on one hand and 2 dialects of the English language is off the mark. First off, despite some similarities, Ukrainian and Russian are very different languages. I speak russian well, but even though I learned Ukrainian in school I wouldn't be able to understand spoken Ukrainian very well, if at all. Second, regardless of whether Russian speakers in Ukraine identify themselves as ethnic Russians (many of them are, I'm sure) or as ethnic Ukrainians, they shouldn't be treated as second class citizens simply because of their ethnicity or linguistic preferences. Like the French speakers in Canada, the Basques in Spain, or the Welsh in the UK, Russian speakers in Ukraine have the right to preserve their language and their culture. If Ukraine wants to be a modern democratic state, it needs to recognize that it is not a mono-ethnic polity.


The people of Ukraine have spoken: (1) Ukraine will NOT be seeking NATO membership (no thank you!); (2) Ukraine WILL be getting a second official language, Russian. Of course, if Tymoshenko refuses to admit defeat, subjecting the country to months of needless political uncertainty in the midst of an economic crisis, it's possible that there may be a political crisis. It's even possible that the country will split down the middle between the North West and the South East. Given that the two halves of the country can't seem to settle on a political system that works; it may not be such a bad thing.

Btw psellus is a racist; wtf is all this about "tatar interbreeding"; shouldn't someone from Economist's staff flag and delete offensive drivel like that?


wigo: you may be on to something. Your comments are deleted, but racist comments by the likes of psellus are allowed. Given the blatant anti-russian slant the economist usually takes, it must mean that someone at the Economist believes that posts describing russians as a product of "tatar interbreeding and occupation" are acceptable. Obviously the subtext is to suggest that russians/east ukrainians are a lesser people because of "asian fatalism and servilism".


I feel sorry for those people in Ukraine who really wanted to move their Country into the 21st century. It looks like they preferred the 20th century and its disastrous results of the early decades. Ukraine will take a long time to realize its mistakes by putting a Russian puppet into power, and by that time it may be too late to reinvigorate itself. Russia has scored a big victory here, but what can it really do to be of any help to the benefit of the Country?
Such a wonderful people I met while there, and now they will have their hopes dashed for some time to come.


Oh and I forgot. Anyone hoping for the EU promising Ukraine entry into the Union. Forget about it. The Greeks have ruined it for everyone else. No German politician will be dumb enough to let in even more corrupt and untrustworthy 'Europeans.'



life during Putin became better because oil prices rose from under 50 dollars a barrel to over 100. How is life now? Russian economy has contracted more than any other major economy in the world. Despite their golden moment in the sun corruption has increased while birth rates continue to decline and Russian men die before reaching 55. It took 26 days to subdue a tiny gypsie country like Georgia, and a terrorist barbarian runs Chechnya. Yes. Great victories for mother Russia. This country used to be a country of nobles and poets, expanding as far as the eye could see while mattering to Europe. Now its just a Nigeria in Europe. The damage that Putin did to the system will require fundamental reforms that the peasant fools who run the country are incapable of.

Integration may not make a country instantly wealthy, but receiving billions in credits to improve infrastructure > speaking Russian and beating your chest while Russian oligarchs pillage what is left of the country


Some things to clarify:

Being a 'Pro-Russian' Ukrainian in media shorthand doesn't mean one is ready to run back into the arms of Mother Russia. Wanting Russian granted the status of an official language alongside Ukrainian or wanting friendly ties with Russia does not equal wanting to be ruled from Moscow, no more than Finns during the Cold War wanted to be ruled from Stockholm or Moscow. The Russian-speaking East and South overwhelmingly voted for independence in 1991, and even in historically non-Ukrainian Crimea a majority voted for independence. Realistically, which Ukrainian politician, oligarch, or anyone with real power in today's Ukraine would want to be ruled by Russia?

I dare anyone who imagines a split of the country to be a likely outcome to tell me just where the border would go. You would have an easier time splitting up the US in Red States and Blue States. Ukraine isn't like the Soviet Union, Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia or even Canada or Belgium in that there is no clear definable border between the supposed East and West.

Just how is it controversial to say that this election was not about geopolitics but about Ukraine’s own governance and economy?
In 2004, geopolitics played a significant part in the elections. Putin's clumsy open support for Yanukovych caused a gigantic backlash. This time, Medvedev's insulting open letter to Yushchenko notwithstanding (and Yushchenko never really had a chance), Russia played it much more subtly and smoothly. Plus, both Tymoshenko and Yanukovych promised better relations with Moscow. Geopolitics just wasn't much on the minds of the voters this time around; if you have kept following Ukrainian politics after the Orange Revolution, you would see that the obvious interpretation is that people had just tired of the infighting between Yushchenko and Tymoshenko.


Thank you very much for an offer of support to Ukraine, but "fighting" on the Economist web page may not necessarily be the best way to do it. May I suggest that instead you write and try to publish in a (preferably reputable) German press an article devoted to German-Ukrainian relations? I, personally, would be greatly obliged if you could eluminate this isuue for me: how could it happen that promise of EU membership which was in FDP programe somehow slipped off the coalition agreement?


To the enemies of the Russian-Ukranian friendship.

Sirs or Comrades (as you like),

This election confirmed that Ukranian people are fed up with the nationalistic and poor rhetoric of the "Orange camp". Enough is enough, you may "broke your lances" here trying to prove that new-elected President of the Ukraine is a monster (as you often try to demonize Russian Top officials), however you should admit (even for your personally) that the battle is over..

- Official Russian language will return to the schools, etc. etc.
- Black fleet will remain in Sebastopol for another 50 years (at least).
- Business ties and turnover(s) (which during "Orange time" were increased by a factor of five and will grow further and further.
- Nazi collaborator S. Bandera will not be a "Hero" of Ukraine anymore.

- etc. etc. etc.

So, it is the begining of a new era for the both nations (Ukranian and Russian).

P.S. It is advisable for you to think on your own problems: double standards re immigrants and corresponding criminal environment (just look around), air pollution, terrorist threats, schools shootings, profligacy of the civil servants, etc. etc. etc.

From my side I also aknowledge that our countries have almost the same problems, that's why let's solve them jointly instead of carping at each other.



Happy new Soviet re-Union!!!
I completely disagree with the foolish optimism of the last two paragraphs of the article!
It IS about geopolitics and Ukraine will probably become part of the newly formed Moscow-led customs union between Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan. Moscow will most likely include Armenia, Tajikistan and Kirgyzstan in due course as well.Those countries are weak and poor, they also need protection and are hence the perfect prey for a resurgent Moscow. It will also try with Turmenistan and Azerbaidjan. After the customs union will come the military integration (CSTO provides the perfect base for that). It will be called an alliance but will in fact be run from the Kremlin.
It is not a coincidence that Romania joined the balistic misile defense now - that's where the new front line lies. Countries on the peripherry are afraid (the Baltics and Georgia most of all). Georgian oposition is now warming up to Putin because it sees the writing on the wall
Before the Orange revolution Russia was still not a major concern but nowadays it is deffinitely resurgent. And agressive. And a reunification (because that is what Yanukovich means) with Ukraine will make it all the more dangerous.
Europe should really put it s*** together because the Americans may not be able to protect us in ten years time


Aha. I got you. The name for someone expecting consistency in the foreign policy of the largest and once the greatest European power is nowdays called "a child". Thank you for opening my eyes, friend. Perhaps, I am getting old...


The deadlock in the Ukrainian national government may have just become even more hopeless, or perhaps it will succumb to Stein's law soon enough. In any case, the intervening presidency of Yushchenko has changed the tone of Yanukovich's politics and foreign entanglements such that the country has much less to fear than at the time just prior to the Orange revolution. And as distasteful as the deadlock has become, a strong opposition will keep this president in check.

Ernst Raxarov

As an active participant in the Orange revolution I think that this tentative victory of Mr. Yanukovich is rather a step into the right direction.

This step is needed simply to get his voters as disillusioned, as the "orange" voters today are disillusioned with their idols. And his fans still have some way to go: Mr. Yanukovich failed to collect as many votes this time around, as he got back in 2004, but still the majority of them. When in couple of years time his popularity rating will have slipped into the single digits, a new generation of less controversial politicians may succeed in pushing him out even before the end of his five-year term.

But what is vital now - is the active support of the EU and the US for Ukrainian democracy as it may yet again get under attack from Mr. Yanukovich's lot as well as from Kremlin. Ukrainian democracy is vital not only for Ukraine, but for the democratic perspective, and hence - the stability, of Russia, and with it - for all of Europe and the world.

Democratic forces in Ukraine would get a huge boost from an unambiguous promise of an eventual membership from the EU.

So the ability to count on The Economist as an advocate of a European path for Ukraine in coming years will be greater than ever.

Ernst Raxarov, blogger from


Seeing all these comments about languages, I am starting to wonder. Did the language issue weigh so heavily on the minds of Ukrainian voters? As an outsider, it's as mind-boggling as seeing the US voters picking their leaders based on issues like abortion and same-sex marriage.

There are more pressing issues for Ukraine, which desperately needs good governance. Things like the language issue, however dear it may be to nationalists, or the well-documented personal shortcomings of Yanukovych or Tymoshenko wouldn't matter in the big picture if they were capable of running the country well.

Ukrainians have seen both of these candidates take turns running the country as prime minister. Neither seemed to care about the future of the country as long as they could hold on to power. For one, Yanukovych introduced extremely short-sighted increases in the minimum pension, which Tymoshenko also went along with. So, in a country whose pension financing is already strained to the limit, they are effectively encouraging people to retire earlier and bankrupt the whole system. Sadly, Ukrainians are being easily fooled by such populist measures. They have yet to see their country run competently.

Unlike Russia whose political leadership can hide its incompetence under an authoritarian veil, Ukraine at least has an open political atmosphere and genuine elections. Just a shame that the politicians can't seem to get their act together.

Tom Silo

Of course views and sentiment change, but despite The Economist's view this is a significant loss to the people of the Ukraine as was the disastrous fracturing and ineffectiveness of the Orange Revolution. Shame on Europe for being so weak kneed in the face of Russian control of their precious resource supply. What signal does this "leadership" send to the rest of the emergent Eastern European states? Is it that Europe talks about values yet leads with its self interest thereby pushing the pain to those that are least able to accept it?

It's also disappointing to see the Yanukovich/Russian alliance can adapt and change faster then a western backed democratic government. More so because it's people have lost faith in the process and in wondering how making a change was so difficult and costly whether it will be worthwhile to do so again anytime in the future.


johnqq: "and now they (the Ukrainian people) will have their hopes dashed for some time to come."
You still do not realize that the Ukraine progress was delayed by the “orange” mistake, under which per capita GDP has fallen below that of Albania...and this could not continue.


Sir, where U were last 4 years? U could say same durring all time. Until now ukranians realize it was mistake by putting a AMERICAN puppet into power. That U, Europe and America did, to make their life better? Result U can see now.



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