Supporters of Ukraine's pro-Western opposition leader were rallying here Wednesday to keep pressure on authorities to ensure a repeat presidential vote was conducted fairly while their leader, Viktor Yushchenko, moved to ease Russia's anxiety over his likely victory. Yushchenko was due to address the demonstration on Kiev's main Independence Square around 6:00 pm (1600 GMT) followed by a 30-minute speech to be broadcast on the state-run national television network that virtually ignored him prior to a previous and now-discredited election.
His opponent, Ukraine's pro-Russian Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich, meanwhile addressed a campaign rally in the central city of Kirovohrad that was attended by both his supporters and pro-Yushchenko activists, Interfax news agency said.
The rematch between Yushchenko and Yanukovich takes place Sunday. It was organised after the supreme court ruled their previous contest on November 21 was riddled with irregularities and fraud and annulled it, amid mass street protests that began exactly one month ago.
Speaking to Ukrainian journalists late Tuesday, Yushchenko sought to allay Moscow's concerns over the prospect that he will soon be running his country, but said that while Russia was of core interest to Ukraine he would nonetheless focus on building stronger bonds with western Europe.
"Emotion comes and goes. It is more important to understand one thing: Russia is of strategic interest to Ukraine. So we will always have a strategic policy and a political strategy in relations with Russia," Yushchenko said in remarks reported by Interfax.
He told state radio separately that, if elected, his first official visit would be to Russia. And he said the questions of whether to make Russian a second official language and to introduce dual Ukrainian-Russian citizenship, both ideas backed by his rival, warranted discussion.
His remarks came in response to Russian President Vladimir Putin's claim, made during a visit to Germany, that he would have "no problem" working with whoever becomes Ukraine's next leader.
The election in Ukraine on Sunday has assumed a major geopolitical significance as the country sits on the East-West fault line between former Soviet republics still dominated by Russia, whose commitment to democracy has been questioned, and long-established European and US democracies.
While the principles Yushchenko claims to represent are central to democratic government and therefore strongly backed by the West, those espoused by Yanukovich favour the maintenance of deep historical and cultural bonds with Russia and he has as a result been backed by Moscow.
Yushchenko, whose support base is strongest in the Ukrainian-speaking western portion of the country that has always been uneasy with Russia's influence, reminded voters at home and observers abroad that if elected he intended to concentrate on drawing Ukraine closer to the West.
"Our priority remains European integration," the 50-year-old Yushchenko said.
A senior Russian official said meanwhile that the lower house of the Russian parliament, the State Duma, would be sending 31 deputies to monitor the repeat elections. They would be included in delegations from various pan-European institutions, Andrei Kokoshin said.
Ukrainian election officials said Tuesday that so far more than 12,000 representatives of various foreign governments and international institutions had been registered as poll observers. That compares to 5,000 signed up for the last election.
One of Ukraine's most popular pop music bands, Okean Elzy, meanwhile said it was releasing an English-language version for international distribution of one of their songs that became an anthem for supporters of the Yushchenko-led "orange revolution."
"When in 1967 John Lennon began to write songs about revolution, it was not because he wanted to become president," lead singer Slava Vakarchuk told journalists at a press conference in a Kiev bar. "It was to express a feeling in the air - a feeling that we are winning."
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