I believe Stalin was quoted as saying something to the effect, "It is not those who CAST the votes but those who COUNT the votes who win elections."
Putin is acting in the finest tradition of Joseph Stalin.
Putin did the same exact thing in Russia a couple years ago when United Russia gave him basically a constitutional majority in the Diat and the power to do whatever he wants. Where was the outrage then? The 95% turnout in government strongholds when witnesses said almost no one was in line, horrible press coverage of the opposition, intimidation, the list goes on. I don't know about the advertising in Ukraine but here's an example of Russia's press coverage: The TV networks (all government controlled since Putin shut down the private ones) would show a boat full of Russian orphans and a huge party with food and balloons and everything all sponsored by: United Russia. The kids were having the time of their life. The network then showed the opposition, the Communists, but their footage was a bunch of fat men getting out of Mercedes and then very unflattering close-ups of the party leader's face when he spoke. It's pretty funny but bad funny. No idea why Bush has always supported this turd.