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The investment climate in Ukraine will improve considerably if Viktor Yanukovych is elected president, says prominent Russian and Ukrainian businessman Vadim Novinsky. The investment climate in Ukraine will improve considerably if Viktor Yanukovych is elected president, says prominent Russian and Ukrainian businessman Vadim Novinsky.

"In my opinion, the situation with the investment climate will only improve under Viktor Fedorovych (Yanukovych) if the Central Election Commission's data agrees with the figures of the exit polls [announced on Sunday evening]," he told reporters at Yanukovych's headquarters on Sunday.

Novinsky said that he had not noticed any infringement of Russian businesses in Ukraine over past years.

Yanukovych handles economy more liberally than Yulia Tymoshenko, he said.

"Yulia Volodymyrivna [Tymoshenko] acts vis-a-vis the economy as a Bolshevik. Viktor Fedorovych [Yanukovych] is more liberal. Yulia Volodymyrivna - she is like Hugo Chavez," he added.

Novinsky added that he does not believe it to be a disadvantage. "Take it simply as a fact," he explained.

Vadim Novinsky is president and major owner of Smart-Holding, whose core business includes mining and metallurgy (as a stockholder in the Metinvest group of companies and Yakovlevsky ore-mining mill), nonmetallic mineral production (Smart-Nerudprom subholding's enterprises), shipbuilding (a subholding on the basis of Kherson and Black Sea shipbuilding yards), farm produce processing (SAGRO subholding and the Veres group of companies), and businesses in other sectors.