Foreign Correspondence

[Amaunet]

RUSSIAN POLITICIANS AND EXPERTS ON THE UKRAINIAN STANDOFF

At some polling stations, the number of ballot papers exceeded the number of voters.

If the election in Ukraine was not democratic either was the election in Afghanistan where the number of registered voters exceeded the total number of eligible voters.
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-Am

MOSCOW, Nov 23 (RIA Novosti) - Valery Khomyakov, the director general of the Council for National Strategy: If the opposition wins through mass protests, then Russia-Ukraine relations will dramatically deteriorate. Russia has too openly supported Viktor Yanukovich, the current prime minister, Vremya Novostei reports.

If the current 50/50 split in Ukrainian society spreads to the security agencies, events may become uncontrollable. Ukraine will then be doomed to see the conflict assume international proportions. Viktor Yushchenko, the opposition leader, has already announced he will go to the OSCE and Strasbourg. Indeed, the elections failed to meet European standards, and OSCE observers have accused the Yanukovich team of excessive efforts to ensure a high turnout in regions it controls. At some polling stations, the number of ballot papers exceeded the number of voters. Mr. Yushchenko is now in a far more advantageous position, and he will remain an influential Ukrainian politician regardless of the outcome of the story.

Mikhail Margelov, the chairman of the Federation Council committee for international affairs: Yushchenko's team was ready to acknowledge only one outcome - victory. They labeled any other version as falsified in advance. The opposition is now deploying divisions of its supporters and is beginning to organize civil disobedience, all the while speaking about the alleged falsification. The fact that Yushchenko's team was prepared for this situation, which is now threatening to run out of control, is very dangerous.

Alexander Konovalov, the president of the Institute of Strategic Studies: It is difficult to tell whether the confrontation will lead to political instability. Ukrainian society has never been so polarized, and the split line is clearly marked on the map - it runs along the Dnepr.

Oleg Panteleyev, a member of the Federation Council committee for the CIS affairs: A solution imposed by force is quite possible, as wesaw in the "rose revolution" [in Georgia]. Russia must influence the situation in neighboring states.

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