Russian President Vladimir Putin, in his first public comment on the dramatic Ukrainian presidential election that the Kremlin-favored candidate lost, said Friday he hopes that the country will move from rhetoric to pragmatism

Russian President Vladimir Putin, in his first public comment on the dramatic Ukrainian presidential election that the Kremlin-favored candidate lost, said Friday he hopes that the country will move from rhetoric to pragmatism, news agencies reported. The reproving tone of the remarks, made after meeting with Ukrainian parliament speaker Volodymyr Lytvyn at Putin's residence outside Moscow, appeared to indicate continued Russian discomfort with Viktor Yushchenko, the Western-leaning opposition candidate who preliminary results show convincingly defeated Kremlin favorite Viktor Yanukovych, until recently Ukraine's prime minister. Yanukovych, who had proposed giving the Russian language official status in Ukraine and was seen as likely to nudge Ukraine more into Russia's sphere of influence, was declared the winner of a Nov. 21 election, which the Ukrainian Supreme Court annulled amid allegations of massive fraud, forcing the Dec. 26 rerun in which Yushchenko prevailed. After the Nov. 21 vote, tens of thousands of Yushchenko supporters jammed central Kiev for weeks of demonstrations that came to be called the "Orange Revolution." The demonstrators denounced not only election fraud but Russia's alleged attempts to influence the election. Putin congratulated Yanukovych even before he was declared the winner, but had remained silent about Yushchenko's prevailing in the rerun.