{"id":191511,"date":"2010-01-17T17:20:37","date_gmt":"2010-01-17T22:20:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.businessinsider.com\/pro-russian-candidate-wins-first-round-of-ukrainian-election-2010-1"},"modified":"2010-01-17T17:20:37","modified_gmt":"2010-01-17T22:20:37","slug":"pro-russian-candidate-wins-first-round-of-ukrainian-election","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/191511","title":{"rendered":"Pro-Russian Candidate Wins First Round Of Ukrainian Election"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"ukraine<\/p>\n

Four years ago, Ukrainians took to the streets to support an ostensibly open democratic movement dubbed the “Orange Revolution.”<\/p>\n

But the country has stagnated since then, and today voters offically took steps to turn back the clock, as former loser Victor Yanukovich won the first round of the country’s national election<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Yanukovich is Putin’s preferred candidate, and his election would take the country much closer to Moscow — perhaps an appealing prospect for a country that lives in fear of freezing winters, and the threat of Russians shutting off national gas.<\/p>\n

But his election is no sure thing.<\/p>\n

Current prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko (pictured) won the second place in the election, and when all the voters go to the polls to select between just two candidates (in the next round) she could easily pull ahead.<\/p>\n

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