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Russia Lashes Out at U.S. NewsMax WiresRussia lashed out at the United States on Tuesday for what it called "unprecedented interference" in domestic affairs after U.S. officials allegedly took Moscow to task for recognizing Ukrainian Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych's victory in the presidential election. A high-ranking Foreign Ministry official issued an anonymous statement citing media reports that Assistant Secretary of State for European Affairs Elizabeth Jones had summoned Russia's ambassador to express disapproval of President Vladimir Putin's message of congratulations to Yanukovych. Story Continues Below "If this really took place, then it would mean unprecedented interference in the internal affairs of two countries," the official said in a statement circulated to the media. It was unclear why the Foreign Ministry would not know whether or not the report was correct. In Washington, State Department spokesman Adam Ereli said that Jones had spoken with Ukraine's ambassador to Washington, Mikhailo Reznik, and that the American ambassador in Kiev, John Herbst, had held discussions with officials in Yanukovych's office and Foreign Ministry. He did not confirm that Jones had spoken with Russia's ambassador, Yuri Ushakov.
No Mention
Russian President Vladimir Putin told reporters in Lisbon, Portugal, that he had congratulated Yanukovych "on the basis of the results of exit polls" indicating that the Ukrainian prime minister had won. He did not, however, note that other exit polls showed that the prime minister's challenger, opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko, had won Sunday's run-off vote. Without naming names, Putin chided Western countries for tacitly accepting that Yushchenko was the victor. "We cannot either not recognize or refute the results of the election in Ukraine before they are officially announced," Putin said. "And we recommend that others follow our example." The Russian Foreign Ministry criticized the European Union and particularly its current leader, Dutch Foreign Minister Ben Bot. EU foreign ministers on Monday called on Ukrainian authorities to "urgently" review presidential election results, arguing that the vote had "clearly fallen short" of international standards. The Russian ministry said that the EU's call "demonstrates on the one hand Brussels' obliviousness to a democratic principle _ respect for the expression of the people's will _ and on the other, its open pushing of the opposition to the illegal use of force."
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