Azerbaijan, Baku, Jan. 18 / Trend E. Tariverdiyeva /
The future political course of the country and its relations with neighbors, particularly with Georgia, depend on the person who will win in Ukraine's presidential elections, experts said.
"The presidential elections in Ukraine, as the test, showed that if the events develop in favor of Yanukovich, the relations between Georgia and Ukraine will become more complicated," Georgian political analyst Ramaz Sakvarelidze told Trend .
The presidential elections in Ukraine were held Jan. 17. As of 12:40 on January 18 the Central Election Commission has examined 90.03 percent of protocols of precinct election commissions. Viktor Yanukovich got 35.39 percent of votes, Yulia Tymoshenko - 24.97 percent.
The corresponding data was published at the monitors in the CEC, UNIAN agency said.
The Georgian Parliament Vice-Speaker from the opposition Paata Davitaia considers that if Viktor Yanukovich is the President of Ukraine, Georgia will lose its strong ally. External threats will increase.
If Yanukovich takes office, it is unlikely to affect the friendship of the Georgian and Ukrainian peoples. But Georgia will lose a friendly country, Davitaia told media.
Regardless of who becomes the new president of Ukraine, the friendly relations between the two countries will be strong, Georgia's Deputy Foreign Minister Nino Kalandadze said at the traditional briefing on Monday.
She said Ukraine is Georgia's neighbor, its strategic partner and that is why Georgia has sent more than 300 observers to Ukraine's elections.
"We welcome any choice of Ukraine's people made in fair and democratic conditions," she said.
Observers believe that if a candidate loyal to Russia wins in Ukraine's elections, the character of the policy can change towards Georgia.
"People in Ukraine, not only those close to Yushchenko, have repeatedly expressed solidarity with Georgia, especially during the war in South Ossetia. Suddenly Kiev did not allow an entire delegation of Georgian observers to Ukraine. This is a very interesting situation," Senior Fellow at the Institute of International Studies of the Russian Foreign Ministry's Moscow State Institute of the International Relations, Leonid Gusev, said, Regnum news agency reported.
Hundreds of "observers" from Georgia, not registered by the CEC, arrived in Donetsk. Many observers came as freelance correspondents of Ukrainian publications, RIA Novosti reported. The opposition Party of Regions said about provocations of Georgian security officials. Its position is traditionally strong in the east of the country. But Ukraine's Interior Minister does not see a real threat.
He said one can assume that Ukraine does not want the aggravation of relations with Russia before the elections.
Despite Viktor Yushchenko holds the presidential campaign in anti-Russian spirit, it is likely to have a certain limit," the political analyst said.
Gusev said these are domestic Ukrainian games aimed at not disrupting the relations with Russia till the end, because the major candidates - Yulia Tymoshenko and Viktor Yanukovich use the secret support of Moscow.
Sakvarelidze said if Yanukovich wins, Georgia will lose Ukraine as a partner.
"It is clear if Yanukovich wins, as a minimum, we will lose Ukraine as a partner, and the maximum - the relationship can be also complicated with Russia", Sakvarelidze said.
Ukraine's relationship with its neighbors must not depend on the change of Ukraine's leadership, Ukrainian MP Oles Dony said.
"Ukraine's ties with the Caucasus states are strong and will remain the same in future," Dony told Trend over phone from Kiev.
Dony said there is a factor of Russia's presence in the relationship. It can not be discounted, because this factor is fundamental, even in bilateral relations between the former republics of the USSR.
"Even if the relations cool at the level of the presidents, the economic and humanitarian relations between countries, between Ukraine and Georgia in particular, will not be affected after the change of the leadership of the country," he said.
He said whatever the result of the presidential elections is, Ukraine will establish relations with neighboring countries as a democratic state.
"I think the person who will win in the Ukrainian presidential race will consider the victory as a victory in a democratic country. This person will not consider himself as a governor-general of any other country," Dony said.