A disputed election, dissatisfied young Russians on the streets of major towns and cities, water cannon and burly security forces sent in - just another week in Russia.

Having said that, if you ignore the ongoing political crisis, these are good times for Russia. Two of the country’s football clubs, Zenit St Petersburg and CSKA Moscow, reached the knock-out stages of the Champions League this week - the latter overcoming serious odds to beat Inter 2-1 at the San Siro. Such was the euphoria that even the embattled President Medvedev was able to take time out from his schedule of suppressing a popular uprising to tweet his congratulations to Zenit.

Rather the opposite emotions were in evidence in Russia’s neighbours Ukraine though, where the country’s sole representative in the Champions League, Shakhtar Donetsk, limped to the end of their European campaign, having been eliminated with a match to spare. They don’t even enjoy the solace of dropping into the Europa League, having finished bottom of a group containing Zenit, Porto and this season’s surprise package APOEL.

Losing is not typical habit of Shakhtar in recent years. Last season they reached the Champions League quarter-finals, hammering Roma along the way, before coming up against the Barcelona juggernaut and succumbing in uncharacteristically insipid fashion. In 2009 they won the UEFA Cup in fine style. And they have won the Ukrainian league title in each of the last two seasons.

But this year’s dip will alarm the club’s management, not least billionaire owner Rinat Akhmetov, who this week stated not for the first time that his ambition was to win the Champions League.

“I don’t know how long we’ll have to work on that aim,” he said. “But however long are hearts are beating, we’ll fight for this trophy, so that it comes here to Donetsk, to Ukraine.”

Akhmetov is certainly not a man used to having things go against him. Ukraine’s richest man, and a powerful figure in the country’s political and economic circles to go with his influence over footballing affairs, the 45-year-old is the subject of continued whispers over how his wielding of power in a country which, though dogged by corruption, hosts the European Championships next summer.

The Private Eye reported last week on a series of battles Akhmetov has fought to protect his reputation. He hired law firm Schillings to force an apology from the Kiev Post in 2008, after the paper alleged that Akhmetov unlawfully intervened in business deals involving two Ukrainian industrial companies. Akhmetov also lends his support to Ukraine’s incumbent President Yanukovych, which always comes in useful for rallying supporters in Donetsk during election time - back in 2004 an eye-popping 127% of voters turned out in one of the city’s electoral districts.

Indeed, Akhmetov has been at pains to protect his personal and professional reputation from prying eyes. A dossier from the Kiev Post lists the various ways the Shakhtar owner has scrubbed from the record unflattering profiles or allegations of dodgy behaviour. It makes for interesting reading, especially in the light of the Leveson Inquiry’s attempts to curb newspaper reporters’ snooping. Remember also that England fans will be spending much of June in Donetsk, with the national team set to play twice in the Euro 2012 group stage at the city’s Donbass Arena.

In a recent article the Financial Times also explained the complex relationship between Akhmetov’s fortunes on the field and those off it. Shakhtar’s success is a vital cog in his aim of maintaining popularity among prdinary Ukrainians.

On the field, there isn’t an enormous amount to explain Shakhtar’s stuttering (incidentally, they remain in title contention, trailing table-toppers Dynamo Kiev by just a point and a place with more than half the season played). Scoring was the club’s problem in the Champions League - they managed just six goals from their six group matches, in stark comparison to the 50 goals they have scored in 19 league games so far this year.

They haven’t traded too freely in the transfer market, holding onto their handful of Brazilian stars - Jadson, Willian, Fernandinho, Luiz Adriano - who make the team tick. They even added to their freescoring front line in the summer, taking Ukrainian international forward Evgeny Seleznev from Dnipro.

But goals did dry up in Europe. “It was bad luck,” defender Yaroslav Rakytsky said this week in explaining their elimination. “We have played aggressively all the time, but we didn’t score because, I repeat, we had no luck. I think that’s the only reason.”

Coach Mircea Lucescu also argued that, based on the standard of their performances, Shakhtar did not merit a last-placed finish in the group.

One suspects, though, that Akhmetov won’t give much shrift to such arguments. Given the impressive performances of sides in neighbouring Russia this week, Shakhtar’s failures represent a double blow to his personal prestige - and possibly a threat to his power base too.