Russia is electing a president on March 14th. We have been alerted to the fact that second-trips are being pushed off a teeny bit, from 3-4 weeks later to more like 4-5 weeks later, because the court systems are involved in the election somehow.

However, we're hoping that since the election will be done roundabout when we hoped to travel on a second trip, we won't be put off long. But families who are returning from their first trip currently are being given dates farther out; which would put us a little farther out. Frustrating. Haven't even gone on our first trip yet, and the second trip is already being pushed off. Grrr.

While I was looking for the official date of the Russian presidential election, I ran across an interesting article. A man who has entered the race against President Putin published an open letter to all newspapers accusing Putin of "ruling by fear" and using "intimidation," and also called him "the biggest oligarch in Russia" for his connections to big business.
Within a couple days, 26% of this man's petition signatures to put him on the ballot were called out as invalid. He began arguing it start of last week; he returned home this past Thursday night at 9:30pm and has not been seen since.
They launched a national search for him today.

The more things try to change, the more things stay the same. And the Russian election is one more thing I am NOT going to make conversation about when we visit.