Pro-Russia politician set to sweep Ukraine polls

Pro-Russia politician Viktor Yanukovich was on course yesterday to sweep the first round of Ukraine's presidential polls, five years after vote-rigging by his supporters sparked the Orange Revolution.

Polls showed Yanukovich with a clear lead going into today's elections, albeit without the majority required to avoid a second round run-off against his main challenger, the glamorous Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko.

The Orange Revolution protests of late 2004 swept Ukraine's old order from power and created hopes of a new era of prosperity and European integration for the country of 46 million people bridging the EU and Russia.

But amid grave public disillusionment after five years of botched reform and political stalemate, the Revolution's hero, pro-Western President Viktor Yushchenko, is set to be bundled out in the first round.

With Tymoshenko making much of her warm ties with Russia's strongman Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, the outcome of the February 7 run-off is already being seen as good news for the Kremlin, which cut off all business with Yushchenko.

After a frenetic campaign that saw the main protagonists exchange stinging insults, Saturday was an official "day of calm" with all campaigning banned and campaign posters removed from the streets.

Yanukovich prayed at Kiev's millennium-old Caves Monastery, one of the most revered sites of Orthodox Christianity, declaring afterwards that he had asked for God's help and salvation.