New leader Yushchenko in Moscow for talks

Last updated at 12:48 24 January 2005


New Ukrainian leader Viktor Yushchenko has landed in Moscow today on his first foreign trip as president ahead of talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin who had opposed his election.

Political commentators expected the West-leaning Yushchenko, inaugurated on Sunday, to spell out to Putin just how far he will go in steering his country towards the West and away from its traditional partner Russia.

The lightning trip to the Kremlin fulfils Yushchenko's pledge to make Moscow his first port of call as president, to uphold Ukraine's links with its former imperial master and key trading partner.

It appeared also aimed at dispelling any lingering bitterness between the two men after the very public backing Putin gave for Yushchenko's defeated opponent in a bruising election campaign and mass street protests by Yushchenko's supporters.

Putin did not attend Yushchenko's inauguration on Sunday.

Yushchenko, due to embark on a whirlwind tour of western and central Europe later in the week, has stressed Russia remains a "strategic partner" for Ukraine. Ukraine relies heavily on Russian energy supplies.

But Russian commentators said the Kremlin would want to know how committed, if at all, Yushchenko was to forming a joint economic space with Russia and ex-Soviet Belarus and Kazakhstan - a loose concept pushed by Moscow.

Others said Yushchenko would be seeking assurances from Putin that Russia would not stir unrest in the Russian-speaking east of Ukraine, power base of Yushchenko's pro-Moscow rival.

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