"This is not about Russian-Ukrainian dialogue, Russian-Ukrainian understanding, it's about electing Yanukovych, and everything the Russians are doing here serves that purpose," said Iryna Bekeshkina of Ukraine's Democratic Initiatives Foundation.
Bekeshkina said she suspects that seemingly neutral activities by the Russian Club, such as commissioning an exit poll on election day, are designed to confirm a Yanukovych victory, not cross-check the actual vote. "They say they're going to poll 50,000 people," she said. "Who's going to do the work? We have no idea."
An elderly woman begs as supporters of Ukraine's prime minister march Friday along the main street in Kiev.
(Ivan Sekretarev -- AP)
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Bekeshkina's group is coordinating another opinion poll that is being funded by four Western foundations and eight embassies, including those of the United States, Britain and Switzerland. The group said it invited the Russian Embassy to participate but got no response.
Mykhailo Pohrebinsky, director of the Kiev Center for Political Research and Conflict Studies, denied opposition allegations that Russia has poured tens of millions of dollars into Yanukovych's campaign as "a lie, a pure lie."
"The Ukrainian groups that support Yanukovych have more than enough money," said Pohrebinsky, a consultant to current President Leonid Kuchma, who is backing Yanukovych.
Yanukovych's campaign is also helped by at least three teams of Russian political consultants, many of them from Russia's Kremlin-created Motherland party. They are offering advice to the campaign on subjects as diverse as which themes to stress and how the candidate should be groomed.
A Russian makeup artist flew in to improve Yanukovych's appearance, according to a Russian working on the campaign who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The Yanukovych campaign dismissed the importance of its Russian political advisers. "The election headquarters is run by Ukrainians," said Sergei Tigipko, Yanukovych's campaign manager. "I know who is leading this campaign, and they are Ukrainians."
