KIEV (AFP) - Russian President Vladimir Putin pushed for closer ties between Moscow and Kiev in a live television appearance just days before a hotly-contested presidential election in the former Soviet republic.
His appearance was broadcast on several national television channels in Ukraine and was widely regarded as a veiled campaign stump for the pro-Russia candidate in Sunday's race.
Sunday's vote pits the pro-Moscow Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich, against the Western-leaning Viktor Yushchenko. The two are running neck-and-neck and will likely face off in a second, deciding round set for November 21.
Putin said Yanukovich's government deserved the credit for the Ukraine's improving economy. "Ukraine has seen strong economic growth during the past several years, especially last year," he said. "The Yanukovich government has been able to achieve (this). It is an example to be followed."
Since the breakup of the Soviet Union, Moscow has been vying with the West over loyalties in Ukraine, where half of the 48-million population speaks Russian, and on Tuesday Putin said the choice should be clear.
Outgoing president Leonid Kuchma once said that "'we thought that if we just demonstrate... moving away from Moscow, we'd... live happily and richly.' This hasn't happened and nothing like this can happen," Putin said.
"Nobody has as his goal recreating the USSR," he said. "Such an attempt would be counterproductive and unfortunately would not lead to anything good."
"There are many in the post-Soviet space who regret -- and they are right in doing so -- about the loss of the Soviet Union, but... we need to work with today's realities."
Putin said that ties between Russia and Ukraine should be strengthened by a simplified travel procedure and a common economic zone.
The election campaign prior to the October 31 election has left this former Soviet republic of 48 million people bitterly divided, with the Ukrainian-speaking west largely backing Yushchenko and the Russian-speaking east supporting Yanukovich.
The West has tacitly backed Yushchenko's candidacy, hoping the former central banker and prime minister can lead one of Europe's largest countries out of its economic quagmire and to a more predictable course that could include membership in the European Union.
But trying to preserve Moscow's interests in former Soviet republics that have looked elsewhere for help since Communism's collapse, Putin has tried to beat European diplomats at their own game by formally received Yanukovich and Kuchma at the Kremlin earlier this month.
"The authorities will try to use this visit to their own advantage even if Vladimir Vladimirovich" Putin does not say anything about the vote, Yushchenko told reporters.
Meanwhile the Communist challenger Alexander Moroz said Putin "still enjoyed great popularity in Ukraine ... and will be not be observing our civil rights if he starts telling Ukrainians who we should be voting for."
Putin will stretch his visit until Thursday, attending a parade commemorating the 60th anniversary of the end of republic's Nazi occupation during World War II.
That day is usually marked on November 6, forcing the Ukrainian foreign ministry to issue an official denial that the festivities had been pushed forward by one week to coincide with Putin's visit.
10/26/2004 - 19:24 GMT - AFP