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"The West will now view the Ukraine with indifference," laments the Romanian weekly Revista 22, in the immediate aftermath of the presidential election in the ex-Soviet republic. "A few years ago Kiev was regarded as an integral part of the European political architecture,” recalls editorialist Alexandru Lazescu, who says pro-Russian candidate Viktor Yanukovych’s victory over Yulia Timoshenko, the icon of the 2004 democratic uprising, "officially spells the death of the Orange Revolution and the country’s return to Moscow’s sphere of influence. Incumbent president Viktor Yushchenko and his former prime minister did everything they could to destroy the trust they had gained in Europe.” This is why “the election result was a foregone conclusion and why it got such short shrift in the Western media”. For the nonce, the EU can only note “the new strategic equation taking shape in southeast Europe” and map out a new neighbourhood policy approach.
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