Related Event: Ukrainian Political Crisis 

Ukraine will repeat its presidential election this weekend. In Moscow, Russian President Vladimir Putin says he will respect the result of the poll, and would welcome opposition candidate Viktor Yushchenko if he wins the re-vote.

"We are not going to predict the result of the elections because that would not be right, although we know what the polls are saying. I'm personally acquainted with Mr Yushchenko from his tenure as Ukraine Prime Minister. We had dealings with each other and we had normal, business-like relations."

But Putin warns of an anti-Russian bent.

Moscow-backed incumbent Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych won last month's presidential runoff, but the results were protested due to alleged fraud and abuse.

At his annual end-of-year news conference, the Russian President also strongly defended the takeover by state oil firm Rosneft of buying oil major Yuko's key production unit, calling it a legitimate business deal.

"To my mind, the acquisition was done in absolute conformity with market means. As I said before, state owned companies, or to be more precise, companies with one hundred per cent ownership by the state, have a full right to make the bid, as well as all other market players"

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