a look at ukraine as a foreigner

[burbur]

Last summer I have been to Ukraine/Evpatoria(i may not be typing the namecorrectly)for one week and I had a great time there but although I had no problems with civilian people ,I and my friends had lots of trouble with the Ukrainian police:they took us into a police car after we got out of a disco and although all our papers were complete they wanted us to give money and threatened us with arresting if we don't.And when we were leaving ukraine the customs officers took us into a room one by one and demanded money.And so on .This was a one week trouble with the police although we didn't do anything illegal. Perhaps it had occured just because we were Turkish. But after all Щ love ukrainian people(civilians) and want to come back for a holiday again, hoping all these are fixed this time.

[Irinka]

I'm really sorry this happened to you!
I have heard quite a few horror stories about Ukrainian police, and this has nothing to do with Turkish people, they just want money...that's all.
Ukraine is very corrupted, and I'm afraid to go as well.. I'll be in Odessa in about 9 days and am very nervous myself. The police thinks that they can intimidate you just because you are a tourist...did you give them any money?

[NZman]

That's the former CCCP for you dude, get youself to darkest Russia, it's the same dude.

Love the NZman

[vdanishevski]

I think there's no unusual in what really going on in Ukraine:corruption in all spheres of life I have read in "Top secret"(Sovershenno Sekretno),that Ukrainian economy is in deep crisis and not much have been done to improve situation in my country,so Ukraine is in Top 10 of the Top-20 the most corrupted and dangerous contries of the world to make buissness in.One can really notice it on such cities as Odessa or Chernihiv,Dnepropetrovsk,etc.Butless less Kharkiv and Kiev because these two cities are the most powerful ones and most influent on Ukrainian life in general.But Odessa is "Ukrainian drug-dealers portal" that's for sure

[volodymyr_gusak]

Corruption is the biggest threat to any country, and it is very sad that Ukrane was not any different in this matter. Looking back on the history of other countries, like Great Britain, Gemany etc. it had happened there too, in 1980s in GB, but they went through it, therefore I think there is some scope for a hope for improvement.
Tourism gives a lot of profit in the long run, as soon as it is realised by our Government we might be able to see more money going into that industry... I would be very happy. However, policemen in general are very "hungry" and to feed them well we need more stability in tax paying system + pay off of wages! My comment is just jumping on top of some great issues, though I hope it is of some use to those who want to visit Ukraine in future, I say it will get better, never loose your hope.
Volodya

[Lina]

Well, corruption is there...burbur said that their papers were correct.

I just wanted to add something and may be warn some people...There is a stuipid, post-communist law in Ukraine about tourism!

It sounds something like that every foreigner should be registered with OVIR. Aparantly you're out of trouble if you stay with the hotel. Hotels,(big ones, at least in Kiev) usually provide you with the stamp from Ovir, as far as I know. If you stay in a private appartment for example, you're to go to the OVIR office and ask them to put a stamp in your passport! If you do not have that stamp, and police got you, that's usually the first thing they will get to you asking to pay a "fine". Of course, they make up fines as they go!!! I think that the price ususlly depends on the mood of the policemen, the number of children in his family, and the amount of people caught before you!

I think that something like it could have happened to our friend, burbur. He was very easy to tell out from the crowd for the police, because he had definite sines of being a foreigner...He was darker than average Ukrainian, I assume. Plus, he was at the club!
The same thing happened to my hubby at the airport, 1 1/2 before the flight, a policemen heard him speaking English! He did not have a stamp obviously, his "freedom" costed 60$.
The British guy upfont got raped by a 100$.

The tragic thing is that Ukrainian police knows NO languages and never bothers to get a translator and try somehow to communicate with non-Ukrainian speakers.

I'm not sure about that deal with the customs though! I've been through the customs many times and never had any problems!

[volodymyr_gusak]

It is actually a very good point, it is indeed the situation in Ukraine... but not only, our older brother has this thing too. Las summer holidays, I went to Moscow to meet a friend of mine who was apparently visiting a friend of his who lived in Moscow. When we met my friend told me an interesting story about an incident with the police there, he did not have a stamp and they wanted "fine" of 100$, interesting isn't is... but these policemen were not lucky, because the other guy (who lived in Moscow) an embassy passport of inviolability, his father is working for the World Bank! As soon as police people found out who he was, they even apologised... this proves the point for Russia too.