The race for Ukraine’s Presidency is hotting up.  With the incumbent serial Kremlin-offender Viktor Yushchenko flagging with ratings of just 3%, it seems that battle has truly commenced between Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko and opposition leader Viktor Yanukovych.  Russia-Ukraine relations have considerably suffered under Yushchenko’s leadership –  will Tymoshenko, the other, (lest it be forgot) architect of the Orange Revolution, be West or East-leaning?  RFE/RL quotes her as suggesting that whilst involvement with Europe will be prioritized, warmer Russia relations may be on the cards:

I’m sure that our relations with the Russian Federation can be equal and respectable, open and honest, without ambiguities.

Or is she planning an altogether different kind of homage to Russia?  Yevgeny Kiselyov in the Moscow Times wonders if ‘she’ (as the Prime Minister is enigmatically described on her campaign posters) harbors neo-Putinesque ambitions for running Ukraine: