Will Ukraine's Protests Swallow Putin, Too?

Two events that took place on Friday highlighted the enormous difference between Ukraine and Russia, two large, neighboring, corrupt, misgoverned East European nations whose peoples understand each other's language and share cultural references.

In Kiev, President Viktor Yanukovych conceded defeat at the hands of protesters who had held the center of the capital for three months. After all-night talks with parliamentary opposition leaders, EU and Russian mediators, he said he would call an early presidential election in December 2014, but before that, the constitution would be amended to curb the president's powers and move toward a parliamentary republic. At the same time in Moscow, a court found eight people guilty of "taking part in mass disturbances" and violence against riot police in May 2012. The verdict, which carries prison sentences of as long as six years, sealed Russian President Vladimir Putin's victory over the protesters who accused him and his allies of rigging elections in 2011 and 2012.