Powell Says U.S. Isn't Trying to Influence Ukraine, Georgia

The U.S. isn't attempting to influence Ukraine, Georgia and other former Soviet republics and is supporting democracy in those countries, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said. ``We are not competing or fighting over these places,'' Powell said yesterday in Bulgaria, according to a State Department transcript. ``We are not asking them to choose between the East and the West.'' Powell, attending a meeting of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, criticized Russia for failing to meet its commitments to withdraw forces from Georgia and Moldova. Russia's delegation later issued a statement saying such comments weren't justifiable, Interfax news agency reported. Ukraine's Nov. 21 election, in which Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych was at first declared the winner, has caused a rift between Russia, which supported his bid for the presidency, and the U.S. and the European Union, which supported opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko. Ukraine's Supreme Court has upheld Yushchenko's charges that there was voter fraud and ruled the election must be re-run on Dec. 26. The standoff in Ukraine put U.S. President George W. Bush in opposition to Russian President Vladimir Putin with whom Bush has cultivated a close relationship based on fighting terrorism.