International influence and reaction
Russia and the CIS
Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma won Putin's support and managed to promote the political reform in Ukraine. The president, however, has not been able to solve every single problem. The fate of the reform will now depend on Viktor Yushchenko. One may not doubt that it will be delayed till parliamentary elections, at which the new Ukrainian leadership hopes to obtain the majority of seats and nominate their own premier without any auxiliary agreements.
President had twice visited Ukraine before the election to show his support for Yanukovych and congratulated him on his victory before official election results.
Prominent hardliners in Russia cast the election as opposition to renewed Western imperialism. Russian Communist Party leader Gennady Zyuganov, for example, blames the West for interfering in the situation in Ukraine in the run-up to the October 31 presidential election:
"I have been in Kiev for a third day and I see for myself that the numerous actions of local opposition bear the earmarks of those groups that at different times tried to destabilize Prague, Budapest and Bucharest - the earmarks of U.S. special services."
