The question of the Ukraine, its crisis due to the contested results of the general elections and the risk of civil war, monopolises the attention of the main international dailies. “The pro-Russian candidate proclaimed victor in Ukraine”, is for example the headline in the Herald Tribune (25/11). “Snubbing Western leaders and the popular protest which is continuously growing in the streets writes C.J. Chivers the government of Leonid Kuchma, outgoing President of the Ukraine, on Wednesday ignored the news of widespread electoral fraud and endorsed his Prime Minister as President elect”. As for the leader of the opposition, the American daily reports that “Yuschenko, addressing the tens of thousands of his supporters not long before being declared the official loser, said that the results of the elections were manipulated to the point of becoming a real coup d’état. He swore he would continue to fight for the executive post, and urged the army and police to ignore orders to quell the demonstrations by force”. “Ukraine: wave of shock of the ‘orange revolution'”: Le Monde (25/11) analyses the question of the Ukraine with this headline on its front page. “No one can any longer doubt it begins the editorial -: massive fraud was practised during the two rounds of the Ukrainian presidential elections, so as to prevent the accession to power of Viktor Yuschenko, the democratic and liberal opposition candidate, supporter of a policy of developing closer relations with the European Union”. Some reflections on the “isolation” of Russia in the international community are offered by Natalie Nougayréde in one of the articles dedicated to the Ukrainian elections inside the same paper. “ Russia says the article finds itself singularly isolated on the international stage, having demonstrated such close support for the power of Ukrainian President Leonid Kouchma (….). The crisis of the Ukraine has given rise in Russia to new criticisms about Putin’s power”. “The people and the empire”: that’s the title of an editorial signed by Bruno Frappat in La Croix (24/11), in which it is pointed out that “what is most disturbing, in the Ukrainian events, apart from the risk of incidents and violence, is what it tells us of the state of Russian power and the satellites that surround her”. The German press too has followed with close interest the result of the elections in the Ukraine. “ Breach with the past” is the title of the article of Michael Ludwig in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (24/11), in which the author comments: “ If only a part of the news about the conduct of the authorities, bureaucrats, military chiefs or heads of the Ukrainian fiscal police force before and after the two electoral rounds were true… one would draw a picture of a post-Soviet feudal system in which the citizen is not admitted. Ukrainian citizens are now opposing this situation, and this opposition is an anticipation of the fact that Europeans, especially those of the EU, must finally devote attention to this country“. Writing in the Frankfurter Rundschau (25/11), Daniel Riegger observes: “ The Ukrainian crisis is a challenge for the new Europe and a test for the much-praised German-Russian relations. Hitherto, the reactions of the West have left nothing to be desired. Hastily congratulating his preferred candidate Viktor Janukovic, the Russian President pledged himself too soon. Changing position without losing face becomes difficult. The much-praised silent diplomacy between German Chancellor and head of the Kremlin will have to prove itself in this case. The stakes in the struggle for power in the Ukraine are dangerously high: the economic power of the oligarchs and the strategic dependence on Russia against the democratic opening up to the West: the electoral result must be verified by independent controls“. “ On Sunday the Ukraine experienced a presidential election that could have marked the beginning of a journey towards Europe“, comments Gerhard Gnauck in Die Welt. “ Not only the content, but also the peaceful and spontaneous form of the protests demonstrates that the velvet revolution of Kiev, has deserved the trust and the support of the Europeans“. ———————————————————————————————————– Sir Europa (English) N.ro assoluto : 1344 N.ro relativo : 84 Data pubblicazione : 27/11/04
