In January 2005, Viktor Yushchenko placed his hand on the Bible and pledged to take Ukraine towards EU membership, as he was sworn in as president after ousting pro-Russian leaders from power.But four years on, the hopes of the "Orange Revolution" are just a memory with the country in a grave economic crisis, riven by political and linguistic division and now deprived of Russian gas deliveries in the middle of winter.The unity between Yushchenko and Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, the undisputed pro-Western heavyweights of Ukrainian politics, has eroded into the most extraordinary and sometimes surreal public bickering.After enjoying growth rates of around seven percent since 2000, Ukraine's shaky economic foundations have been shattered by the global crisis, with industrial production contracting by 28.6 percent in November.The national currency -- the hryvnia -- has lost over 80 percent of its value against the dollar over the last three months, a big blow for Ukrainians who had become heavily indebted in hard currency.The situation has become so acute that political analysts are even warning the country -- whose "revolution" was emblematic of democratic change in the former Soviet Union -- risks sliding back into authoritarian rule."The possibility of an authoritarian regime being installed in Ukraine exists," said Irina Bekeshkina of the Foundation for Democratic Initiative in Kiev.Another catastrophe scenario now being openly discussed is the risk of the country splitting up between the pro-Russian and Russian-speaking east and south of Ukraine and the largely Ukrainian-speaking west.Cities like Lviv in the west, where a Ukrainian national identity is proudly espoused, are vastly different culturally from Russian-speaking cities of the west or the southern peninsula of Crimea in the Black Sea."Political turbulence has become a major factor which is preventing us from being ready for the economic crisis," said Volodymyr Fesenko, head of the Penta political studies centre in Kiev.With presidential elections expected in late 2009 or early 2010, "the country risks splitting into two" if pro-Western and pro-Russian candidates fail to acknowledge the result, said Fesenko.However Vadim Karassiov of the Institute of Global Strategy in Kiev describes such a scenario as "overly alarmist"."The political elites have no interest in a split".But Russia's decision to turn off the gas to Ukraine in a row over debts and new prices has for many Ukrainians only underlined the impotence of their "democratic" leaders."The demands for an iron fist are going to be reinforced by the economic crisis," said Fesenko.Cheered by hundreds of thousands after his inauguration, Yushchenko emerged as a hero of the "Orange Revolution", his face horribly pock-marked by a mysterious skin complaint that allies blamed upon political enemies.But the former central bank chief has since suffered a dramatic reversal of fortune and his approval ratings are now languishing at only 3-10 percent with the dreams of rapid integration into the European Union now in shreds.The collapse of his political relationship with Tymoshenko, whom he recently accused of "seeking to drown us all", has led to a paralysis between the two key power centres.The best placed ahead of the presidential elections appear to be Tymoshenko, whose hardcore support still gives her around 16 percent of the vote and the pro-Russian opposition leader Viktor Yanukovich with around 20 percent, polls show.However Bekeshkina expressed hope that Ukraine would still manage to prevent slipping back towards what she termed the "authoritarian" government in Russia under ex-president and current prime minister Vladimir Putin."Putin's authoritarian regime was created because everyone was sick of the quagmire and the chaos."But Ukraine is not Russia and after the Orange Revolution it has more resistance against authoritarianism," she said.