"Mr. Yushchenko, we can begin the operation now.
The election results have just come out, and our supporters are at the peak of their emotions. A little encouragement will produce excellent results.
If we miss this optimal window, once people stop caring about the election, it will be much harder to gather so many of them.
So let's be decisive. Notify all our contacts and have them act according to the plan.
In just one day, we can cover all of Kyiv with our flags and let the whole world hear our cries..."
Inside Yushchenko's campaign headquarters, a campaign adviser stood before him, speaking passionately and without pause.
Yushchenko, however, was somewhat hesitant. He sat hunched over on the sofa, a cigarette between his fingers, his face utterly worn.
He knew perfectly well that once he took this step, there would be no room for reconciliation between him and Yanukovych's faction!
It could even be said that this was a road of no return!
Perhaps this path could help him pull off a desperate reversal and overturn the election results.
But the consequences would be extremely severe. Even if he took office, he would merely become the spokesperson for certain forces.
Or, to put it bluntly, a "puppet"...
But if he did not take this step, if he lost the election, would Yanukovych spare him after taking office and securing his position...?
At that thought, Yushchenko made up his mind.
Being a puppet was still better than standing gloriously on the stage and living with enough dignity!
As for national interests being harmed, energy and mineral resources being sold off cheaply, and ordinary people's lives getting worse and worse, what did any of that have to do with him...?
He sprang to his feet and said through gritted teeth, "Then