Putin voices concern, pledges respect for Ukraine election

Russian President Vladimir Putin accused the West on Saturday of ignoring Russia's interests in Ukraine, in particular by leaving open the possibility that Ukraine could one day join NATO. The comments come one day before Ukraine plans to hold a presidential election that the West hopes will be a step toward resolving the country’s ongoing political crisis.

"Where is the guarantee that, after the forceful change of power, Ukraine will not tomorrow end up in NATO?" Putin told news reporters.

"We hear only one answer, as if on a record: Every nation has a right determine on its own the security system in which it wants to live, and that doesn't concern you," he said.

Russia has serious concerns that the new Western-leaning government in Kiev could take Ukraine into NATO, the U.S.-dominated military alliance. When Russia annexed Ukraine’s Crimea region in March, Putin said the decision was driven in part by the need to prevent NATO ships from ever being based on the Black Sea peninsula.

While Putin said on Saturday that he didn't believe a new Cold War had begun with the U.S. over Ukraine, he asserted that Russia had no intention of playing second fiddle to the West in global affairs.

"If the main bonus Russia gets is to sit in the room and listen to what other people are saying, then that is not a role Russia can agree to," Putin said. "We always take into account the interests of our partners ... but there are some lines that cannot be crossed, and Ukraine and Crimea were that line."

Still, he conceded that Russia would respect Ukraine’s election outcome and work with the country’s new authorities. Pro-Russia armed groups in East Ukraine, meanwhile, have threatened to block the vote, which was called after the country’s Russia-leaning president, Viktor Yanukovich, fled in February following months of street protests against his rule.

Polls show almost certain victory for confectionery magnate Petro Poroshenko, a former government minister who backed the pro-Western Maidan protests that toppled Yanukovich.

Former premier Yulia Tymoshenko, also a supporter of closer ties to the West, is a distant second but is the favorite to contest a runoff if Poroshenko — who is 48 and widely known as the "chocolate king" — fails to pass 50 percent on Sunday.

Keeping up a war of words with Moscow against a background of Russian and NATO buildups around Ukraine's borders, the Ukrainian foreign ministry issued a statement on Saturday saying border guards had seized armed men in several vehicles trying to cross the frontier from Russia illegally overnight.

"The penetration onto Ukrainian territory of armed terrorist groups, organized by the Russian authorities, is nothing other than the latest act of aggression against our state and a cynical breach by Russia of the norms and principles of international law," the ministry said, calling on international powers to take urgent measures to protect the election process.

Western-backed Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatseniuk has offered assurances that Kiev will take care to prevent electoral abuses seen in 23 years of post-Soviet independence that have helped earn Ukraine a reputation for being the most corrupt country in Europe.

Over 1,000 observers from Europe's OSCE security watchdog will monitor the vote, which will run for 12 hours. Exit polls will give a rapid indication of the result but a definitive outcome will only be known on Monday.

Holding the election would itself be a national victory, the prime minister said. "Remember, tomorrow, with our ballot papers, we will be defending Ukraine, investing in its prosperity and in the future of our children and grandchildren.”

"We will vote, and that means we will triumph," he said.

Wire services