President Viktor Yanukovych had built his political career on closer ties with Russia, so when he gathered members of his party in a Kiev cinema in September to explain why he had decided to go ahead with a deal with the European Union that Moscow bitterly opposed, some in the crowd were angry.
But while the 63-year-old political survivor faced down dissenters, insisting that there was no turning back on closer trade and political ties with the West, not everyone was convinced.
“It looks like he’s putting on a show” for the benefit of Russia’s President Vladimir Putin, a senior lawmaker, Inna Bohoslovska, recalls telling a colleague at the closed-door meeting.
She may have been on to something.
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