This weekend Mr Yanukovich is due to meet Mr Putin and Mr Medvedev in Moscow.
ECONOMIST: A country caught precariously between east and west
Having observed the intense engagement between Mr Yanukovich and the EU, Russia may change tack.
ECONOMIST: A country caught precariously between east and west
If it is Mr Yanukovich, a parliamentary election in a few months' time is almost inevitable.
Now Mr Yanukovich will be able to reduce his budget deficit without risking his support.
In retaliation Ms Tymoshenko tried to checkmate Mr Yushchenko by teaming up with Mr Yanukovich instead.
ECONOMIST: As Ukraine��s politicians bicker, the economy slides
Even Mr Yanukovich, once backed by Moscow, now subscribes to the notion of European integration.
Even Mr Yanukovich, who now leads in the polls, has seen his popularity dented.
Mr Yanukovich's comeback should not be exaggerated, partly because he and his supporters never went away.
Mr Yanukovich has been equally keen to demarcate the boundaries of Ukraine's business interests.
ECONOMIST: Ukraine's new government: One hundred days of Yanukovich | The
The trial of Yulia Tymoshenko, a former prime minister and Mr Yanukovich's main rival, is an example.
ECONOMIST: A country caught precariously between east and west
Mr Yushchenko claimed that Ms Tymoshenko had formed a de facto rival coalition with Mr Yanukovich's party.
Yanukovich is against Yushchenko's desire for Ukraine to join NATO, and he wants to improve relations with Russia.
Whereas most of Mr Yushchenko's former allies have agreed to back Ms Tymoshenko, he is implicitly backing Mr Yanukovich.
Yet by settling scores, Mr Yanukovich may also have damaged his own cause.
Mr Yanukovich, by contrast, seems to have waded across the Rubicon without noticing.
But his opponent, the Russian-backed Victor Yanukovich, refused to concede defeat and threatened to challenge the result in court.
In fact, the intensity of Russia's overtures appears to have spooked not only Western observers but Mr Yanukovich too.
ECONOMIST: Ukraine's new government: One hundred days of Yanukovich | The
Mr Yanukovich and his supporters, in turn, show no sign of backing down.
The choice of Mr Yanukovich as president would be neither a disaster nor a breakthrough for Ukraine's oligarchic political system.
If Mr Yanukovich now becomes president he will owe his elevation largely to the spectacular failure of the orange coalition.
The main question is whether Mr Yanukovich can find the will to carry through reforms that could make him unpopular.
Another hope is that Mr Yanukovich will mend the rift between Kiev and Moscow opened by Mr Yushchenko's pro-western orientation.
The explanation of Mr Yanukovich's relatively high rating has little to do with his intellectual capacity, his integrity or his record.
Ms Tymoshenko's main rivalry is not with Mr Yanukovich at all, but rather with her erstwhile orange-revolution ally, President Viktor Yushchenko.
ECONOMIST: As Ukraine��s politicians bicker, the economy slides
Some of Mr Yanukovich's supporters in eastern Ukraine have raised the spectre of breaking away from the rest of the country.
Vladimir Putin, Russia's president, backed Mr Yanukovich in 2004, even prematurely congratulating him on a rigged victory that was later overturned.
Opinion polls suggest that Ms Tymoshenko, who is no angel and mistrusted by many Ukrainians, posed no real threat to Mr Yanukovich.
But some of Mr Yanukovich's financial backers did not like this idea.
ECONOMIST: As Ukraine��s politicians bicker, the economy slides
The government is also attempting to settle scores with Yulia Tymoshenko, the former prime minister and Mr Yanukovich's challenger for the presidency.
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