KIEV (AFP) - Ukrainians voted in a knife-edge presidential election fraught with East-West rivalries and judged as a "moment of truth" for the future of democracy in the former Soviet republic.
Armored personnel carriers mounted with water cannons guarded Ukraine's central election commission building and machine-gun toting police patrolled Kiev's streets as voting got under way amid unprecedented security nationwide.
The charged battle pits pro-Russian ruling party candidate Viktor Yanukovich against Western friendly opposition foe Viktor Yushchenko, who seeks to attenuate Moscow's influence here through closer ties to the EU and NATO.
Highlighting a sense of urgency in Moscow, Russian President Vladimir Putin took the unprecedented step of spending three days at Yanukovich's side in Kiev last week, revealing the personal significance he attaches to the vote.
Meanwhile Washington and Europe have voiced repeated protests about the state-controlled media's treatment of Yushchenko, with the State Department warning starkly of "measures" against Ukraine if the vote outcome is rigged.
The European Parliament has described the poll as a "moment of truth" for democracy in the country after a decade of rule by outgoing President Leonid Kuchma, whose record on reform and human rights has been mixed at best.
Nearly one fourth of registered voters had cast their ballots in the first three hours of voting and election officials predicted 80 percent turnout in a country where politics are coming to life after generations of stifling Soviet and tsarist Russian rule.
The stakes could hardly be higher for this nation of 48 million people, which has served as an uneasy bridge between Russia and Europe during Kuchma's term.
Kuchma, 66, who has cultivated close ties with Moscow in steering Ukraine through most of its first 13 years as an independent country, is counting on his chosen 54-year-old successor Yanukovich to stay the same course.
Yanukovich said he expected to win the endorsement of the socialist and communist factions -- who also have a pro-Russian electorate -- and easily win the presidency in the second round.
But the opposition sees Sunday's vote as an unprecedented chance to finally open Ukraine up to Europe and bolster its own independence from its giant neighbor Russia through the US-led NATO alliance.
A victory for Yushchenko, 50, could initiate the transformation of Ukraine into a member of the European Union -- shifting liberal Europe's center of gravity closer to Russia's borders.
"We must prepare for the European option," Yushchenko said recently. He headed Ukraine's central bank before serving for nearly two years as prime minister, a post he lost after launching an anti-corruption campaign.
Meanwhile his supporters -- many of them students dressed in opposition orange in reference to what some here call the "Chestnut Revolution" of Ukraine -- said they felt the ruling party was being overrun by people with shadowy histories and the mob.
"My friends and I usually don't follow politics but we came out today because it seems like criminals are running the state and this is our chance to kick them out," said Yelena Rushinskaya, 25, a university research assistant.
"You see those strong boys from Donetsk," said another woman, pointing to a group of young men with shaved heads and black jackets who came on a bus from the eastern coal mining city as "observers" for the Yanukovich camp.
"That's what life will be like under Yanukovich -- thugs everywhere, terrorizing your life," she said while looking at the men as they milled about Yanukovich's headquarters.
A former coal mine boss who speaks limited English and served two brief stints in prison as a youth, Yanukovich vows to make Russian the second official language for Ukraine and supports Moscow's plan of introducing dual citizenship for the two countries' citizens.
The opposition views such plans as an infringement on Ukraine's right to self determination and on efforts to align its policies with Western clubs like the EU and NATO.
Yushchenko's supporters have organized a demonstration at Kiev's historic Independence Square near government headquarters for Monday morning that they say could see up to 600,000 people show up on the streets.
And even Kuchma Sunday toned down his pro-Moscow rhetoric, saying that Ukraine has "already chosen a European course."

10/31/2004 - 15:03 GMT - AFP