the pro europe protests led to the ousting of the russia-friendly regime of viktor yanukovych.y are disenchanted by persistent corruption and the oligarchs who will not go away. reporter: three years ago, this man spent months demonstrating against you came for russian government. president viktor yanukovych was forced out of power and many thought things would change, but the post-soviet elite has maintain power and corruption is rampant. >> they still are in the country with the oligarchs who can call it counter revolution also, if you want, and this is bad, but this is something that i was expecting. you know, i was saying just after that it is not going to be better. i was sure it was going to be worse. reporter: three years on, might on square -- the square, the center of the protesting kiev, highlights huge discrepancies in ukrainian society. the wealth of the elite and the poverty of the overwhelming majority. soldiers in uniform hang out with ordinary people. the ukrainian army has been fighting pro-russian separatists in the east since 2014. ♪ reporter: the soldiers ar

the money reportedly came from former president viktor yanukovych's political party between 2007 and 2012. manafort resigned five days later. nbc news can also report what some call disturbing ties to two oe oeligarchs. american officials say both have ties to the russian mafia. the revelation comes a day after senate minority leader harry reid wrote a letter to director comey saying in part, "in my communications with you and other top official in the national security community it has become clear that you possess explosive information about close ties and coordination between donald trump, his top advisers and the russian government." manafort told nbc news in part, none of it is true, there's no investigation going on by the fbi that i am aware are, he said he never had ties about russian president vladimir putin or had dealings with putin and his government. he said any suggestion of such ties was democratic propaganda intended to deflect. >>> election day is finally just one week away. with not much time left a new poll shows the race looks steady for now. the nbc news survey m