Posted on: Saturday, December 4, 2004

EDITORIAL
Ukraine crisis isn't just an internal affair

A little-noted irony about the crisis in Kiev is that election irregularities similar to those that drove tens of thousands of Ukrainians into the snowy streets have yet to produce even a meaningful judicial review in Ohio.

The complaints in both places involved differences between exit polls and official results, and voter harassment and obstacles to voting in areas expected to favor the opposition candidate.

To be sure, the Ukrainian irregularities were "systemic and massive," according to that country's Supreme Court. But another explanation for the more extreme reaction of Ukrainians is their resentment of serious manipulation by outside forces.

The divided American election map on Nov. 3, with blue coasts and a red heartland, was striking.

The geographic split in the Ukraine is even more striking, with almost every district east of the Dnieper River, where Russian is the dominant language, voting for Viktor Yanukovych, who was favored by the outgoing president as well as Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Almost every district to the west, where Ukrainian predominates, voted for Viktor Yuschenko, who favors closer ties with the European Union.

Much has been made of the more pro-West leanings of Yuschenko and the more pro-Russian Yanukovych. But the Ukrainian election is hardly some kind of Cold War redux. Both candidates understand how badly their country needs help from both directions.

The Ukraine is drifting toward EU membership, a trend that frightens Putin on grounds that its diminished sphere of influence will reduce Russian security. As the candidate likely to slow that drift, Yanukovych got Putin's support.

The greater danger for the region, however, is not movement east or west by the Ukraine, but a rancorous division of the country, with the instability that would bring.

With the Ukrainian Supreme Court now calling for a new election, the likely results are a win for Yuschenko, a serious foreign policy defeat for Putin — and a wake-up call for Ukrainians to insist on selecting their own leaders in the future without outside influence.