Viktor Yanukovich, Ukrainian prime minister, yesterday positioned himself as radically anti-western, accusing Leonid Kuchma, the outgoing president who supported him in last month's failed election, of betraying him and Ukraine to foreign interests.

Speaking in a televised debate ahead of fresh presidential elections on Sunday, he told Viktor Yushchenko, the opposition leader: "I'm against you [Mr Yushchenko and Mr Kuchma] uniting and teaching Ukrainians how to live with help from za bugra, he said using a coarse expression for "abroad".