KIEV, Ukraine -- The apparent victory of Russia's preferred candidate in the Ukrainian presidential race may be a relief to Vladimir V. Putin, who has long sought to discredit his neighbor's raucous democracy and its drift to the West.
But it comes with a catch: The election won by the candidate, Viktor F. Yanukovich, was highly competitive, unpredictable and relatively fair -- just the kind of major contest that has not been held in Russia since Putin, the prime minister, consolidated power. The losing candidate, Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, is the charismatic catalyst of the 2004 Orange Revolution mass protests. She had said she would call supporters into the streets if she deemed Sunday's election fraudulent but was apparently weighing her options yesterday.
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