VLADIMIR PUTIN parece estar entrando en razón respecto a las elecciones en Ucrania:

Only days after mocking a call for a new presidential runoff vote, President Vladimir V. Putin said today that he would work with whoever is elected by the people of Ukraine to lead the country, a Russian news agency reported.

"We shall agree with the will of any nation in post-Soviet territory and shall work with any elected leader," Mr. Putin said on a visit to Turkey, the RIA Novosti agency said.

"Only people can determine their destiny in their country," he was quoted as saying, adding that Russia did not want to be the arbiter of all disputes in parts of the former Soviet Union.

"We do not want any country to shift responsibility for crisis settlement to Russia," RIA Novosti quoted him as saying. "It should not seem to anyone that this or that decision was made under Russia's pressure."

He also said Russia was willing to act as a mediator in the crisis, but would not interfere, the news agency reported.

Mr. Putin's comments came after Ukraine's Supreme Court ordered a rerun of the Nov. 21 vote, in which the opposition candidate, Viktor A. Yushencko, said widespread fraud had denied him victory over Prime Minister Viktor F. Yanukovich. A new election has been scheduled for Dec. 26.

Mr. Putin heavily backed the prime minister, who was officially declared the winner in the first election.