Concern has been mounting in Donetsk, a major industrial city in Eastern Ukraine, over a group of Georgians who arrived from Tbilisi presenting themselves as observers ahead of the January 17 first round of Ukraine's presidential polls and intend to stay on till the second round, due on February 7. The Donetsk mayor has sent a letter to Georgia's ambassador to Ukraine, asking him to ensure that the Georgians abide by local laws.
Earlier, the Donetsk prosecutor's office opened a criminal case into the use of forged documents by the above so-called observers who, by the way, are expecting reinforcements from Tbilisi by the February 7 runoff.
Leader of the Party of Regions Viktor Yanukovych, who took 35 percent of the votes in the first round, and Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, who trailed behind with 25 percent, will face each other in the second round.
A day before the January 17 vote, some 2,000 guests from Georgia landed in Kiev airport and demanded the Central Elections Commission to register them as observers, only to be refused. The next day, about 400 Georgians appeared in Donetsk where they attempted to infiltrate polling stations, first as observers and then as journalists, but to no avail. When exposed, the hot-tempered Georgian guys repeated what they had told the airport authorities, namely that they had come to get acquainted with Donetsk girls.
There arises the eternal question: who would gain from this? Presently, an audio tape emerged with the voice allegedly belonging to Premier Tymoshenko asking to send aid, while the voice allegedly belonging to Georgia's President Mikheil Saakashvili said "they are already coming". A string of mutual recriminations ensued: the Party of Regions blamed the premier, the Interior Minister and a friend of the premier blamed the Party of Regions, and President Yushchenko blamed everyone for everything.
Konstantin Tsarenko, head of the Kiev-based Sodeystviye (Assistance) consultative group, believes that an escalation of tensions plays into the hands of those who are losing the elections.
Tensions surge as Ukraine moves closer to the second round. An escalation is doubtless in the interests of those who received the minority of votes. The pro-Western "orange" forces seem to be preparing some scenario that falls outside the constitutional framework. They are unhappy about Yanukovych's strong lead as well as about European and Russian observers supervising polling stations. We may again witness the "orange" using non-democratic means of seizing power. Well, they have already done that before."
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