As Yuliya Tymoshenko savoured her election success in Ukraine last night, a delicious moment summed up the Kremlin's discomfort at the return to power of the Orange revolutionary.

Ms Tymoshenko was in full flow to a hall packed with journalists and television cameras when she was handed a mobile phone by her top adviser, Hryhoriy Nemyria.

“Can you excuse me a moment, the President of Georgia is calling,” she told the startled hacks, as she began to talk to Mikhail Saakashvili in front of them.

The sight could hardly have been more infuriating for President Putin, who has been stung by the “colour” revolutions that pulled Ukraine and Georgia out of Russia’s orbit and pointed them towards the West.

“I would like to thank you for speaking Ukrainian,” Ms Tymoshenko told Mr Saakashvili, who studied in Kiev, to spontaneous applause from the assembled Ukrainian journalists. Even in their language of communication, it seemed, the leaders of Moscow's former Soviet satellites were demonstrating that they had no need for Russia.

At the time of the Orange Revolution, in 2004, the Kremlin made no secret of its support for the pro-Russian Viktor Yanukovych and was delighted by his return to power last year as Prime Minister. His defeat yesterday leaves Moscow with little political capital against a revived Orange coalition of Ms Tymoshenko and the President Viktor Yushchenko.

Both are determined to enmesh Ukraine in the European Union and Nato. The Russian Ambassador, Viktor Chernomyrdin, claimed glumly that Moscow was willing to work with any government in Ukraine, but Ms Tymoshenko made clear that the terms of the relationship were about to change sharply.

In a pointed dig at Mr Yanukovych, who had emphasised his ability to work with Moscow, she declared that relations would no longer depend on personal friendships between government officials but on “the very clear denomination of the national interests and priorities of our two countries”.

The Kremlin prefers brute logic to subtlety in its negotiating strategies and will shortly put Ms Tymoshenko to the test. Ukraine must negotiate a new contract soon for gas supplies from Russia.

Moscow turned off the supplies to Ukraine briefly, in January last year, as the two sides sparred over a steep price increase set by the Russian energy monopoly Gazprom. The dispute sent a shockwave through the EU, which receives a quarter of its gas from Russia via pipelines in Ukraine, and recorded an immediate fall in supplies before the two sides settled.

Mr Saakashvili may be calling Ms Tymoshenko again to give her the benefit of his experiences. Gazprom threatened to cut off supplies to Georgia last winter until he agreed to a 100 per cent price increase.

Georgia now pays $235 (£115) per 1,000 cubic metres of gas, compared with $130 in Ukraine. The Kremlin is likely to decide that Ukrainians should pay for Ms Tymoshenko’s victory with dearer energy bills.

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