Bush Praises Yushchenko on Election Win

WASHINGTON, DC -- President Bush called Ukrainian President-elect Viktor Yushchenko on Saturday to congratulate him on his election and on "democracy's victory" in Ukraine, a White House spokesman said.

Bush noted that he was sending Secretary of State Colin Powell to represent the United States on Sunday at Yushchenko's inauguration. Bush and Yushchenko talked for about 15 minutes.



"The two leaders also discussed their support for the people of Iraq and for democracy in that country," White House spokesman Brian Besanceney said. "They agreed to consult and work closely together in the coming months."

Yushchenko, a Western-leaning reformer, lost the Nov. 21 election that spawned allegations of widespread fraud by followers of his opponent, Viktor Yanukovych, who ran with the support of the outgoing president, Leonid Kuchma.

The election results were overturned by the Ukrainian Supreme Court, which agreed that the balloting was tainted by fraud. Yushchenko won the Dec. 26 rerun, and Yanukovych still has not conceded.

Powell's trip to represent the United States at the Yushchenko inauguration will be one of the secretary of state's last official acts.

In announcing his trip Thursday, State Department spokesman Richard Boucher congratulated the Ukrainian people for their courage in "standing up for their democratic rights" with sustained pro-democracy demonstrations that facilitated Yushchenko's eventual victory.