Russia should not congratulate Viktor Yanukovych until he officially becomes Ukraine's president to avoid repeating its mistake of 2004, the speaker of the lower house of parliament warned on Tuesday.
"I remember that in the runoff five years ago Yanukovych had better results than now, so I think it would be right to put off the question of congratulations until the inauguration," State Duma speaker Boris Gryzlov told reporters.
With 99.91% of ballots from Sunday's vote counted, Yanukovych has a 3.47 percentage point lead over Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, a flamboyant leader of the 2004 "Orange Revolution" protests that led to a re-vote and Yanukovych's defeat.
Yanukovych was cast as the political villain and a Kremlin stooge in 2004, after Moscow rushed to congratulate him for winning an election that international observers said was rigged.
Gryzlov, however, said it was unlikely the events of 2004 would be repeated. "It was beyond the scope of any law, and I think it would be simply impossible to repeat."
"I hope the current results, when formally confirmed by Ukrainian election authorities, will allow Yanukovych to become the legitimate president," said Gryzlov, who is also a leader of the dominant Kremlin-backed United Russia party.
Ukrainian media reported on Tuesday that Tymoshenko was not going to recognize Yanukovych's victory. She vowed during the campaign to take her supporter to the streets if she was not happy with the election results. She is due to hold a news conference on Tuesday after twice postponing it on Monday.
Yanukovych has 48.95% of the vote against Tymoshenko's 45.48%.
In their election campaign, both rivals pledged to improve ties with Russia, strained over a host of issues under pro-Western President Viktor Yushchenko.
MOSCOW, February 9 (RIA Novosti)
