How Russia and the west react to Sunday's rerun presidential election in Ukraine - whichever way it goes - will set the tone for their wider relationship. Both Russia and the west should want at all costs to keep Ukraine together. Neither should want to exercise any exclusive sway over it. And each should want it to have good relations with the other.

These maxims will be harder for Russia, which has centuries-old links to Ukraine, to follow. But President Vladimir Putin now appears to be adjusting to the likelihood that his favoured candidate, Viktor Yanukovich, will lose the rerun to Viktor Yushchenko, whom the Russian leader said he would have no problem working with. After talks with Chancellor Gerhard Schröder this week, Mr Putin made other conciliatory noises. He said he was ready to accept a dialogue with Germany and its European Union partners on Chechnya, and promised to speed up debt repayment to Germany and other creditor governments.