Moscow: Viktor Yanukovych was on Thursday
inaugurated as the fourth post-Soviet President of Ukraine at
a ceremony in the Parliament after weeks of protest over
alleged election fraud.
Leaders of the West-sponsored 'Orange Revolution' of
2004, outgoing president Viktor Yushchenko and Prime Minister
Yulia Tymoshenko, have boycotted the inauguration ceremony
which was attended by several heads of states.
The results of the February 7 poll were suspended by
Ukraine's highest court after an appeal from Yanukovych's
rival, the prime minister, Yulia Tymoshenko.
Tymoshenko later dropped her appeal on February 20.
Yanukovych's victory in the presidential polls has
virtually split the nation.
Yanukovych has broad support in the Russian-speaking
east of the country, but lost most regions in the
Ukrainian-speaking west to Tymoshenko.
He has been widely criticised for inviting the
Patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church Kirill to bless him
before taking oath of office in the Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine's
Parliament.
According to Ukraine's UNIAN agency due to economic
crisis there was no money in the budget for a proper
inauguration, which would be limited to a lunch in honour of
the foreign guests.
PTI
First Published: Thursday, February 25, 2010, 18:14