just an average day in kiev...

Beginning to recuperate and make plans for leaving Ukraine on April 20. I had to pick up a letter of invitation for the Russian archives that had been DHLed from the US, and just getting to the Fulbright office was a major ordeal: Yushchenko's orange supporters have taken over one side of the square, Yanukovich's blue and gold flags are on the other, and then the communists came marching down from a third approach. Unfortunately, I don't have my camera today.

It's hard to estimate numbers or their significance, since it's no secret that all sides are paying people to walk around holding their flags. But the pro-Russian Yanukovich faction has made an impressive show today, mustering what looks like thousands on Independence Square, where the Orange Revolution took place. They've erected tents, built a huge stage, and are broadcasting sessions of parliament live on a huge screen. The crowds have also closed down the main street today.

Elections are scheduled for the last week of May, but things are going to be a huge mess. The President doesn't have the Constitutional power to dismiss parliament, and it's unclear whether or not the high courts will intervene, and what will happen if they do. Furthermore, the government, effectively controlled by Prime Minister Yanukovich, has refused to fund the elections at all! So this will continue for weeks, it seems. Glad I'm leaving!