Everyone talks about corruption in Ukraine – it’s prevalent, it’s endemic, and there’s not much you can do about it.
I’ve witnessed a few corrupt transactions in my day, both in Ukraine and in Moldova. Mostly, I’ve seen incidences with the local police. One of their favorite games in Ukraine is to stop cars for some kind of violation or just a “document check”. These are simply opportunities to shake down a driver. Once, riding in a taxi to the airport, the police standing by the road signaled for our car to pull over. They asked to see the driver’s documents and claimed something was out of order – some stamp missing or god-knows-what. It’s perfectly possible that his documents weren’t completely in order, I have no idea. But instead of writing him a ticket and sending him on his way, they hemmed and hawed, putzed around, and eventually just stood there staring at him until he offered a “solution”, in the form of some cash. Then we were allowed to proceed on our way.
Cars with foreign license plates are especially easy targets for the police. My Polish colleague has his car here, and for the first few months he was stopped EVERY SINGLE time he drove his car and harassed by the police. He finally managed to get his car registered in Ukraine and got Ukrainian license plates, which reduced significantly the number of times he gets pulled over.
Once, while riding with a car load of Polish politicians in a car with Polish license plates, we were stopped outside Kyiv by the police. They Poles didn’t speak much Ukrainian or Russian, but could get by generally due to some similarities with their own language. We decided I would wouldn’t say anything and would stay out of the matter. The police produced some bizarre instrument and claimed to be checking emissions from the car. They told the Polish driver that his car met the standards, and that he needed to pay 50 hrivna ($10) for a document stating the car had passed inspection. They did actually give him some kind of document, although the whole thing seemed rather fishy to me. They cracked it up to a good story and a good laugh.
Yesterday, I heard one of the more shocking instances of corruption. A UN colleague of mine lives here with his wife and newborn child. They have been here over a year, and a couple months ago it was time to renew their registration documents (as in the U.S., all foreigners must have visas and proper registration to live and work in Ukraine). My friend’s visa and registration were renewed without question and without problem. His wife’s, on the other hand, was delayed and delayed and delayed, and finally, just a few days before her current visa expired, she was denied renewal of her visa, without any explanation or justification. My friend and his wife were getting desperate, and had no idea how to proceed. He finally asked for help from someone in the United Nations office, and the Resident Representative (highest UN official in the country) told his own secretary, Tetiana, to take care of it.
Tetiana called someone at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to find out what was going on. That person, not particularly high up in the bureaucracy, responded “Well, if you want us to do this for you, we’ll expect something in return.” This lackey, clearly unconcerned and unafraid of ANY consequences, blatantly demanded a bribe from a United Nations official in exchange for a visa and registration that they had absolutely no legal right to deny in the first place!
Anka in Kyiv 