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Tuesday, Nov. 30, 2004

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  Donetsk and other heavily industrialized provinces in Ukraine's east have been the main power base for native son Yanukovych, and the opposition push for annulling the vote on fraud charges has deepened old divisions that now threaten to break up the nation of 48 million.

The Donetsk regional legislature has scheduled a referendum for Sunday to ask voters whether they support making the province a republic - giving it a measure of self-rule - and other eastern provinces said they could join the move to form a "southeastern autonomous republic."

For Reshetnyak and many of his comrades, "autonomy" simply means a de facto merger with Russia. "If we have to choose between the aggressor United States and Russia, I'm choosing Russia," he said.

It's a choice grounded in Ukraine's turbulent history as the subject of deals and disputes between powerful neighbors. Russia has dominated its eastern portion since the 18th century, when what is now Ukraine was divided between Poland and Russia. Most of modern-day Ukraine was then united by Russia in 1793, when Poland was partitioned.

Despite the much-trumpeted end of the Cold War, Ukraine's 21st century election has turned into a battleground between the United States and other Western nations, which have refused to accept the official vote results, and Russia, whose President Vladimir Putin staunchly backed Yanukovych and congratulated him on his victory.

Supreme Court Takes Up Appeal

With the Supreme Court taking up Yushchenko's appeal challenging the validity of the vote in Donetsk and other eastern provinces where official results indicated nearly 100 percent of ballots were cast for Yanukovych, the east struck back with the referendum threat.

"Setting up a republic would protect us from the orange plague which comes creeping into our city," Donetsk Mayor Oleksandr Lukyanchenko said, referring to the color associated with Yushchenko's campaign.

The Donetsk legislature also called for the establishment of its own police force.

"Our city used to be called Stalino after the Soviet leader, and we always have been different from people in western Ukraine," said Anna Kravchenko, a 32-year old office worker.

Yanukovych's campaign has cast the industrialized east as a donor for the agricultural west - a theory that has had a deep impact on his electorate. Eastern Ukraine is more heavily populated than the west, and many of its citizens - coal miners and factory workers - see themselves as holding the country together economically.

Following their leader, Reshetnyak and many other local residents say that closer ties with Russia would benefit the region.

Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov joined Sunday's congress of eastern provinces, denouncing pro-Yushchenko protests as "orange sabbath," an attack that has added to fears that Moscow could encourage separatist bids by eastern provinces.

Russia has pursued similar tactics in other ex-Soviet republics in the 1990s, backing separatists in breakaway provinces in Georgia and Moldova. In Moscow, the liberal newspaper Vremya Novostei newspaper accused the Kremlin of "exporting separatism" among its neighbors.

Even though outgoing President Leonid Kuchma has staunchly backed Yanukovych, he sought to distance himself from the east's self-rule bid, saying Monday that "we cannot in any instance allow the disintegration or division of Ukraine."

And in an oblique warning to Russia, Ukraine's Foreign Ministry said that an attempt to redraw borders would violate agreements the nation has signed "with all neighbor countries."

"Any attempts to call in question these fundamental principles are countering Ukrainian interests and may be dangerous to European stability," the ministry said.

Even in Donetsk, many residents are against the split.

"We are all Ukrainians, and there is nothing to divide," said Denis Okropko, a 43-year old worker at the main steel mill in Donetsk. "Politicians must reach an agreement for the sake of saving our common motherland."

And 86-year old Zinaida Yaroshuk, a resident of the village of Yeripki near Donetsk, said she doesn't understand the political turmoil.

"I was born in Ukraine and I want to die here, and I don't care who will be at the helm at that moment: Yanukovych or Yushchenko," Yaroshuk said.

© 2004 Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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