Yushchenko, who led the 2004 “Orange Revolution” to overturn a fraudulent presidential election win by a Russian-backed candidate, said Moscow’s influence was again a factor in the new race.
Yushchenko also warned of “interference” from Moscow in the distribution of Russian passports to residents of Ukraine’s mainly ethnic-Russian Crimea region, home to the Russian Black Sea naval fleet. “Ukrainian legislation does not allow double citizenship”, he said.
Russia handed out tens of thousands of passports in two breakaway provinces of ex-Soviet Georgia over recent years in what Georgians saw as a creeping annexation prior to a 2008 war, which ended with Russia recognizing the provinces’ independence from Georgia.
