KIEV, Ukraine – Russian President Vladimir Putin (search) arrived in Ukraine on Saturday for his first visit since last year's Orange Revolution (search) ushered in a new, pro-Western government here.
Putin is scheduled to hold talks with President Viktor Yushchenko (search) and dine with Prime Minister Yuliya Tymoshenko.
Yushchenko's office was billing the trip — scheduled to last only a few hours — as a chance for "eye to eye" talks.
It will be the two leaders' second face-to-face meeting. Yushchenko traveled to the Kremlin in January, a day after his inauguration — fulfilling a campaign promise to preserve a good relationship with Russia even as Ukraine reorients itself to the West.
Putin supported Yushchenko's rival, former Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych, in last year's bitter presidential race, which Yushchenko won in December only after a court intervened and threw out Yanukovych's declared victory and ordered a revote, citing mass voter fraud.
Get all the stories you need-to-know from the most powerful name in news delivered first thing every morning to your inbox