Ukrain elections calms Russia down

The main message of today’s presidential election in Ukraine is that war with Russia is off the table—at least for now. Russia and Ukrainian separatists tried hard to prevent the vote—and succeeded in swaths of eastern Ukraine—but now that the election has gone ahead, they will turn to other tactics to press their views.

Yet Ukraine’s new leadership faces other gargantuan challenges, including a decision yesterday by two of its most important industrial regions to combine in their own “people’s republic” called Novorossiya.

Russian president Vladimir Putin’s softer rhetoric suggests that he is prepared to at least hear out Petro Poroshenko, a chocolate magnate who, an exit poll predicts, will emerge the outright winner. If the polls are wrong and Poroshenko fails to win 50% of the vote, he will face the candidate with the second most votes in a June 15 runoff… Read more

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