This is the result in osrfsys.log when trying to upload the FSL.marc sample dataset (loaded with Armenian and Cyrillic goodness) via Vandelay:

open-ils.cstore 2008-09-04 12:02:12 [INFO:1919:oils_cstore.c:620:] CALL:        open-ils.cstore open-ils.cstore.direct.vandelay.queued_bib_record.create - [{"__c":"vqbr","__p":[null,null,null,null,null,null,"<record    xmlns:xsi=\"http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance\"    xsi:schemaLocation=\"http://www.loc.gov/MARC21/slim http://www.loc.gov/ standards/marcxml/schema/MARC21slim.xsd\"    xmlns=\"http://www.loc.gov/MARC21/slim\"><leader>00792nam  2200205 u 4500</leader><controlfield tag=\"001\">000538823</controlfield><controlfield tag=\"005\">20080611092207.0</controlfield><controlfield tag=\"008\">070529s1989    |||     r     000 0 rus d</controlfield><datafield tag=\"020\" ind1=\" \" ind2=\" \"><subfield code=\"a\">5-343-00147-5</subfield></datafield><datafield tag=\"040\" ind1=\" \" ind2=\" \"><subfield code=\"a\">AM-YeHGA</subfield></datafield><datafield tag=\"041\" ind1=\"0\" ind2=\" \"><subfield code=\"a\">rus</subfield></datafield><datafield tag=\"100\" ind1=\"1\" ind2=\" \"><subfield code=\"a\"></subfield></datafield><datafield tag=\"245\" ind1=\"1\" ind2=\"0\"><subfield code=\"a\"></subfield><subfield code=\"c\"></subfield></datafield><datafield tag=\"260\" ind1=\" \" ind2=\" \"><subfield code=\"b\"></subfield><subfield code=\"c\">1989.</subfield></datafield><datafield tag=\"260\" ind1=\" \" ind2=\" \"><subfield code=\"a\"></subfield></datafield><datafield tag=\"300\" ind1=\" \" ind2=\" \"><subfield code=\"a\"></subfield><subfield code=\"b\"></subfield></datafield><datafield tag=\"505\" ind1=\"0\" ind2=\" \"><subfield code=\"a\"></subfield></datafield><datafield tag=\"653\" ind1=\"0\" ind2=\" \"><subfield code=\"a\"></subfield></datafield><datafield tag=\"700\" ind1=\"1\" ind2=\" \"><subfield code=\"a\"></subfield><subfield code=\"e\"></subfield><subfield code=\"4\">ill</subfield></datafield><datafield tag=\"740\" ind1=\"0\" ind2=\"2\"><subfield code=\"a\"></subfield></datafield></record>",2,null,null,"import"]}]

Note that the leader doesn't specify that the encoding is UTF8 (bad record, but it's straight outta Aleph). Is a conversion from MARC8 to UTF8 being run automatically that's possibly destroying the data?