

Translated from Russian by J.Hawk
Hundreds of people assembled next to Verkhovna Rada in Kiev. Three groups of activists are leveling their demands. They want the restructuring of foreign currency personal loans, labor unions demand indexing wages and pensions to inflation, farmers criticize tax laws. The participants of the Financial Maidan demand Rada pass a law requiring that loans in hard currency be converted to hryvnya using the exchange rate from before the 2008 financial crisis.
Cabinet of Ministers is guarded by National Guard. Such demonstrations outside the Rada are a nearly daily occurrence. Ukraine is on the brink of default, unemployment is on the rise, the hryvnya has lost two thirds of its value in one year. The average salary is 3455 hryvnya or about 160 USD, one of the lowest average salaries in Europe.
J.Hawk's Comment: This must be one of these "placeholder" demonstrations staged by the Regionals who seem to be positioning themselves, both on the domestic and international stage, as Ukraine's next government. It may well be that all the reshuffles and firings may be part of the current Kiev government negotiating its exit in order to pave the way for the return of the "old regime."