Replies

"Viktor Yanukovych, was supported by the Russian government and then president Vladimir Putin"

That's a pretty impressive argument. So tell me, how were the Russians able to convince the population to vote for Yanukovych? As you know, it was a free election............

The Yanukovych team and the outgoing president's administration used their control of the government and state apparatus for intimidation of Yushchenko and his supporters. Local officials in Eastern and Southern Ukraine, the stronghold of Viktor Yanukovych, started a series of actions alluding to the possibility of the breakup of Ukraine or an extra-constitutional federalisation of the country, should their candidate's claimed victory not be recognised. Yanukovych was officially certified as the victor by the Central Election Commission, which itself was allegedly involved in falsification of electoral results by withholding the information it was receiving from local districts and running a parallel illegal computer server to manipulate the results. The election was marred by claims that "Western PR consultants had helped orchestrate this rebellion". On the other hand, Russia's involvement in the election was more direct and heavily on the side of Prime Minister Yanukovych. The extent of this involvement is still contested but some facts are indisputable such as multiple meetings between (hugely popular in Ukraine at the time) Russian president Vladimir Putin, Kuchma the out going President. and Yanukovych before and during the elections. Putin repeatedly congratulated Yanukovych while the results were still contested, which was soon to embarrass both parties. This was stated in The Colour Revolutions in the Former Soviet Republics: Ukraine. by Nathaniel Copsey, Routledge Contemporary Russia and Eastern Europe Series (page 30-44) In Ukraine the trust in the Central Election Commission of Ukraine in Ukraine is very low.