The Gods of Internet strike thee down!

Apologise for not having written anything yesterday and only this brief statement today, but to plagerise Ezekiel 25:17. The path to the Internet in Ukraine is beset on all sides by the inequities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men and poor coverage. Blessed is he who, in the name of charity and good will, shepherds the weak through the valley of the darkness and repairs my Internet at 2115 on a Saturday night. For he is truly his brother’s keeper and the finder of lost children and technically challenged bloggers. And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who attempt to poison and destroy my brother or stop him reading my daily ruminations.

Normal service resumed tomorrow!

Keeping promises – Expat-blog.com

OK.  Today we take a break from policies, politics, human rights, civil liberties etc.  There is no need to, there is more than sufficient activity (or inactivity) generated within Ukraine, or externally affecting Ukraine, to write five or ten posts a day most days.  I simply choose one each day.

Today though I keep a promise to Julien, the founder of Expat-blog, which is an umbrella website occupied by a large number of Expat/Immigrant blogs from around the world.  In amongst this global treasure trove of Expat tips, trials and tribulations, this blog is a small part.

Anyway, Julien emailed me and asked me to draw attention to the new housing and jobs sections, which if you click on those links, should take you to those in Ukraine.

I have absolutely no idea how good, bad or indifferent the information in those sections are as I do not need housing or a job in Ukraine.  I have been here far too long to need help with either.  Therefore I can offer no opinion and of course cannot vouch for the integrity of any content within those sections.  Any comments you may have should be directed towards Julien at Expat-blog and not me.

However, this post now keeps my promise to Julien and Expat-blog.  Even if you have no interest in housing or jobs, it is still well worth poking around in the darker corners of that website simply to see if life as an Expat/immigrant in country X is how you thought it would be.

After all, if you are reading my blog, and an average of a thousand people a day do, then you’ll read just about anything.  Amongst those on Expat-blog you are certain to find some that are written in a far superior fashion and manage to put together something like coherent thoughts. – That will make a nice change for you all compared to my random ruminations!

Tomorrow, back to the usual issues you expect to find here at Odessablog.

Attempted banker assassinations in London and Odessa – Tedious links!

Well yesterday saw the attempted assassination of German Gorbuntsov in East London.

Needless to say that whilst gun crime in and around Tower Hamlets is not exactly unknown, suspicion has been directed (rightly or wrongly) at Russia, be it the underworld or the State.  Time will tell which, if indeed there is Russian involvement at all.

Now where organised Russian crime is concerned, Odessa somehow regularly manages to associate itself with it.  That is probably due to the fact that whilst many people have heard of the Russian mafia and even in Moscow the Odessa mafia has a particularly robust reputation, very few realise they are one and the same.  They are a fluid,  autonomous, but occasionally robustly united set of people.  Suffice to say it is no coincidence that when the heat is on in Moscow, many a Russian criminal heads to Odessa and vice versa.  (The same for their counterparts in Moldova.)

I state this without any concrete evidence to back it up other than family ties which for obvious reasons I really don’t want to go into in any depth, and the occasional media reported shoot out when wanted Russian criminals are found by the police in Odessa to add some credance.

With regard to family ties, suffice to say my son’s godfather (seriously, no pun intended), let’s call him Uncle V, was a particularly well known mover and shaker in the Moscow based Russian mafia of particularly well known Grouporovka from the 1990′s.  His name is still well known amongst the security services of Odessa, Moscow and politicians of a certain age.  In fact some of the SBU I know in Odessa occasionally ask after him.

As far as I know, such nefarious days are long behind him now.  He spends most of the year in his very plush home with a zip code very similar to 90210 in a sunny part of the USA, but he still has a very luxurious and excessively rococo styled 2 storey apartment on Old Arbat in Moscow (complete with a very large and somewhat out of place/theme sauna), so very, very occasionally we do get to meet when he is visiting the less sunny Russian climate from time to time.

A particularly affable chap, who will will call Mr A from Odessa and lives not so very far from me in the rather up-market area of Arcadia (where numerous politicians and famous Slavs have second homes/apartments), “shared the same bread” (whatever that means in Russian criminal circles, but that is an exact quote from Mr A) with Uncle V in a Russian prison in the 1980′s  and quite often will appear to insure all is well with my wife and Uncle V’s godson.  Never does he send a minion but always comes himself.  Quite clearly their bond is strong and quite obviously they have been involved in many seriously nefarious acts together historically, most of which I remain oblivious too as far as specifics are concerned.

Mr A is regularly called to Moscow, Kyiv, Donetsk and Crimea at very short notice along with associates from Odessa.

Not particularly interesting to you dear readers I know, and quite what that has to do with Russian bankers shot in London and Odessa remains unclear.  The answer is nothing.  Other than an example of the Russian and Odessa mafias being one and the same thing despite many people trying to separate them.

So as there is no direct connection between the assassination attempt on Mr Gorbuntsov and Odessa what is the indirect connection you are asking?

The answer is an Odessa born chap called Evgeny Dvoskin, with whom our currently very sick Russian banker Mr Gorbuntsov, was/is allegedly an associate (as well as amongst others Petr Chuvilin).

I will not regale you with the tales of Mr Dvoskin and his career, if you have an interest, with a little bit of research and a little knowledge of Russian, and you will begin to scratch the surface.  It is also not really so very relevant to this post but would probably make a fairly interesting book when it comes to the mafia and finances if you care to dig deep enough.

Allegedly, according to some officials, and also according the the underworld tales that circulate in certain quarters in Odessa, Messers Dvoskin, Gorbuntsov and Churvilin were responsible for numerous corporate raids, numerous banking scams and more than a tad of money laundering (into Euro billions apparently) in cohorts with many well known nefarious Russian, Moldovan and Latvian characters.

Recently, I believe within the past 24 months or so, the story goes that Mr Gorbunstov and Mr Dvoskin had a bit of a fall out with the former apparently claiming the latter has screwed him over for quite a few Euro millions.

I should maybe point out that Mr Dvoskin is a long time gone from Odessa and it is said is now in Russia.

This tale is second hand uncorroborated ruminations from those who I cannot honestly state have first hand knowledge themselves, although they are far more likely to know than most people in all fairness.

The last I heard on the grapevine, and of course transparency is not great when it comes to the more secretive investigative institutions, is that a Russian FSB case into these people had gone particularly wobbly due to an inside man and that investigations were on-going but in far smaller pieces rather than one large conspiratorial case as it was in the beginning.  True or not –  Who knows?  Even if it was corroborated, would you trust those that corroborate it?

Maybe more interestingly than anything I have written so far is this is only occasion I can remember of a purely Russian on Russian high level criminal hit in London (if that is what it turns out to be), although why now I don’t suppose we will ever truly know.

But there you have today’s tedious link between Russian bankers, attempted assassinations and Odessa.

Tomorrow back to the more reliable tales in Ukraine with quotes, links and the like to help what I write stand up to the usual expected scrutiny from you dear readers.  However,  as it was topical, I thought I’d share with you some mumblings from the nefarious underworld of Odessa which I can in no way corroborate, just like all good myths and legends.

Needless to say the Chatham House Rule applies to this particular post when it comes to naming names and who said what when reciting these rumours, myths and legends for your deliberation.

Human Rights Watch open letter to Ukraine re Somali detainees

Now here is an interesting letter to those in government and the presidential administration relating to the plight of 125 Somali refugees detained in Ukraine.

Why would a Somali choose Ukraine?  Well of course they wouldn’t.  They will have been detained en route to the EU or bounced back to Ukraine by the EU under the readmission agreement when found illegally in the EU having entered via Ukraine.  In effect leaving Ukraine with people it cannot deport back to Somalia for obviously reasons and people it cannot move on either.

Adding to the complication is the human rights law that Ukraine passed in 2011, “Refugees and Persons in need of Complementary or Temporary Protection” designed to give some form of legal framework to deal with those caught illegally in Ukraine but cannot be deported to their home nations due to the dangers they would face if they were, but also do not have the intention of claiming refugee status in Ukraine and were simply transiting the country to greener pastures until detained.

Many then ultimately try to claim asylum in Ukraine as a next best option to the EU and certainly a better option to Somalia.  You can see their point of course.  Ukraine may not be paradise but it is certainly a long way from being the hell that is Somalia.

As the UK, Greece and many others have discovered, once you have them, you have them.  There is no moving them on or bouncing them back to Somalia either.

The question is what is Ukraine to do with them?

Thus far it has taken a Greek approach and worked within the existing national human rights laws of Ukraine.  Detention for 12 months (hoping the Somalian situation improves so deportation will be possible) and then releasing them as that is the maximum period of detention foreseen by the applicable Ukrainian laws.

Once released they have 5 days to obtain appropriate documents to remain in Ukraine, illegally enter another nation, or eventually they are rearrested and detained for a further 12 months (again hoping the situation in Somalia will improve to the point where they can be deported).

They can of course try an claim asylum in Ukraine, as they have tried to do in many other nations.  More often than not it will be refused as in many other nations (see UK and Greece cited in the letter) by national courts.

Quite obviously very few governments want to become home to Somalian refugees or become seen as the nation that all will head for by granting asylum easily.  Very few national governments also want to willingly put Somalis in grievous danger  by returning them to Somalia either.  By the same token, very few governments want Somalis wandering around their nation should the situation in Somalia eventually improve to allow for deportation back to Somalia.

Allowing the Somalis to freely roam Ukraine and repeatedly try and enter the EU does Ukraine no favours when Ukraine is seeking Visa-free travel with the EU.  An inability to control its border with the EU would not help that process at all.  Should the Ukrainian population’s aspirations for Visa-free travel with the EU be jeoparised by allowing illegal entrants into Ukraine the opportunity to try and cross the border into the EU, thus becoming a negative statistic when assessments are made?

The situation is made far more difficult as Somalia doesn’t have an Embassy or Consulate in Ukraine allowing regular communication and discussion of how to solve the problem in general or individual human rights issues/claims.

Ukraine, as a nation that has a functioning but severely stretched and underfunded social support system, is highly unlikely to want to add numbers to care for to that system on an open ended time-line,  simply because they illegally entered Ukraine and cannot be sent home in good conscience.

All that said, Ukraine has international and humanitarian obligations.  No detained Somali should be subjected unnecessarily to physical abuse.  Abuse though takes many forms and the seemingly never ending cycle of 12 months detention, 5 days of freedom, followed by another 12 months of detention could be perceived as psychological abuse and/or abuse of the legislative system.  If so, Ukraine is not unique in this regard as the HRW letter states.

Something of a dilemma for the Ukrainian authorities, particularly having deliberately made the humanitarian step of plugging a legislative gap last year.

Playing with Ukrainian bureaucracy today – I may be some time!

This may be the last post for quite some time, as today I enter the world of Ukrainian bureaucracy in an effort to draw a line under all outstanding matters from 2011.

First up are the tax authorities as I believe they have miscalculated and I owe them money, and then to attempt to make the required statutory pension contribution relating to Ukrainian based business activities in 2011.

It is my intention to attempt to do both in a single day.  This is not necessarily a wise thing to try even for those with a steely determination forged by a decade of taking on Slavic administrations.   To accomplish a single act in one day should always be considered a victory equal to that of Waterloo.

Nevertheless I set forth today to attempt the improbable.

To employ the quote attributed to Captain Oates by Captain Scott on a similarly ill-fated expedition – “I am just going outside and maybe some time”!

UN murder statistics – Global Survey

In an interesting and rather comprehensive statistical survey of global murder statistics, how does living in Ukraine affect my chances of an early and violent demise?

From a quick look it seems you are more likely to be murdered in Eastern Europe than the rest of Europe (North, South or West) but still less likely to be murdered anywhere in Europe (North, South, East or West) compared to the rest of the planet with the exception of Oceania on a per captia basis.

You are also 3 times more likely (ish) to be murdered in Europe if you are a male than a female and it is more likely to be by somebody you don’t know or barely know.  However if you are female, despite there being far less chance of being murdered, it is likely to be by family or friends.

Regardless of gender or who kills you, you are far more likely to be stabbed or bludgeoned to death than shot in Europe.

Once you pass the age of 30, then your chances of being murdered reduce by the decade quite dramatically.

The stats are broken down into regions, nations and sub-national but it is not the easiest of reads, particularly at the end as the pages are sideways.

Therefore at my age, living in Ukraine, leading a very quiet life that does not often put me in a position of meeting people I don’t know, the chances of me being murdered decrease day by day.

The good woman however, regardless of her lifestyle, has as much chance of meeting her end by my hand or that of her family no matter what she does.

This UN report does not however, include stats for losing the will to live (and thus death by graph and bar chart at their hands) for those who bother to read what they produce.

Contract killers and Odessa police response

At the end of June a contract killing occurred somewhere around  Baranitsy, Zakarpattia, the alleged offender being a Russian with links to Moldova who was believed to be hiding out in Odessa.

Contract killings here are not exactly unheard of, normally business or politics related (as the two are often inseparable)  but they are also certainly no longer the norm either.  They have become extremely rare incidents thankfully.

Anyway, I shall spare you the details of the Baranitsy incident and fast forward to a few days ago when the Odessa traffic police stopped a car containing the alleged offender and two others.  The net result was two Odessa policemen dead, four injured as well as one injured suspect that was shot, who left the scene with the other two.

Yesterday, the Odessa police caught up with these men hiding in the centre of Odessa.

Now undoubtedly these men had already proved to be armed and dangerous having killed two policemen and injured four others, not to mention the killing in Baranitsy by at least one of them.  Needless to say, the police response was going to be robust when they were found.

The outcome of the video link above is that two suspects will not be troubling the Ukrainian court system with a trial.  The third, I am not certain about his fate at the time of posting.

The loss of any life has to be regretted however I am not going to pretend the outcome would have been any different given the recent history and actions of the suspects.  It is highly unlikely they would have “come quietly”.  The police were quite right to go directly to the top of the threat assessment model and anticipate armed resistance.

In case you are wondering, the UK uses a threat assessment that runs along the lines of CS gas, baton/Asp and then firearms in situations were force over and above man-handling is deemed necessary.  (In effect, choke them (with CS gas), stroke them (baton) and ultimately smoke them (shoot)).  Of course there is no requirement to work up the risk assessment model in the UK, police can jump in at whatever level they feel appropriate in the circumstances.

There are though some rules in relation to firearms officer and negotiators.

To stick with the basics, never fire from or at a moving vehicle as the ricochet from a windscreen may hit innocent Mrs Smith down the road.  Fully automatic weapons are an absolute no-no as there is an unnecessary element of  risk that comes with the lack of aimed shots and collateral damage to Mrs Smith once again.

Rolling containment until a fixed containment can be effected.  In this case in Odessa, the suspects had barricaded themselves in a building and were thus static.

2 shots (double tap) at distances of 15 meters of closer, single aimed shots at 15 meters or more.

Feature off the building white, black,green and red. (White always being designated as the front, even if in fact it is not technically the front of any structure.)  White 1.1 being a bay window on the left of the door.  1.2 being the door, 1.3 being a window to the right of the door etc.  Next floor is 2.1 etc.

“Light on white 1.1″ over the radio lets everybody know a light has come on in the bay window on the white side for armed officers and the command post who cannot see white 1.1.   You get the picture.  Its not rocket science, its not a secret but is standard and tried and tested practice that is effective.  In the meantime, some poor (trained) soul gets lumbered with being the negotiator with those inside.  (The negotiators course is actually an excellent course it must be said.)

What has all this irrelevant UK protocol got to do with the Odessa incident?  The answer is Mrs Smith and collateral damage when considering the video in the link.

Fully automatic Kalashnikov’s being fired from roof tops into the street below?  Lobbing grenades?  That is a military solution aimed at winning fire-fights, converting bullets to brass and keeping heads down whilst you cunningly move your people to a position of advantage, regardless of Mrs Smith and collateral damage.

Now there as yet, have been no reports of bystander Mrs Smith or others suffering as a result of the tactics employed yesterday in Odessa and now it is unlikely any will come to light.  No doubt there were cordons keeping the public out and the suspects in.

If fire was returned there are probably bullet holes in windows and ceilings in the apartment block upon who’s roof the police in the video were stood.  Minor cosmetics I will grant you, particularly if no rounds went ricocheting off in bizarre directions unexpectedly during the execution of this incident by the planners.  The end result was seemingly satisfactory as far as Mrs Smith/collateral damage is concerned and an anticipated if not ideal outcome as far as the suspects arrived at.

Nevertheless, risk assessment?  Fully automatic Kalashnikov fire from the roofs of apartment buildings, which looking at the video can hardly be classed as coming close to aimed shots with minimal risk of collateral damage?  Wouldn’t it be good to see the debrief notes as to why that happened?  There is after all, a reason why snipers are routinely put on roof-tops and not a Terminator wannabe.

Out with the old and in wih the new – Ukrainian Visa system changes today

Out with the old and in with the new. Well yes and no, depending upon what you read and who you pay attention to.

To cut a long story short 16 Ukrainian Visa types are no longer issued with effect from today and are replaced by only 3, Transit, Short Term and Long Term. Not news to you dear readers as I did tell you months ago this was going to happen and when.

Well, today is that “when” in question.

I also promised to try to keep you up to date about the intricacies where ever possible.

So, click here for the Ukrainian Embassy to the UK announcement and click here for the US Embassy Kyiv announcement.

If you are incredibly brave click on both as there are some inconsistencies and people who are subject to Visas do tend to get quite emotional and frustrated when they are being told different things.

An example being, for those still holding valid visas for Ukraine, the US Embassy states, “If you have a valid visa and OVIR registration but not a residency permit you can stay in Ukraine as long as your current registration is valid. Once you leave the country, however, you will need to obtain a new visa abroad to qualify for legal residency under the new system. Regardless of the expiration date, “old” pre-September 10 visas will no longer be valid for entry into Ukraine after September 10.”

That is not mentioned by the Ukrainian Embassy to the UK and therefore infers that existing Visas will be allowed to run their course until expiry date under the old rules.

That was in fact confirmed by Mr. Andriy Olefirov, Director-General for Consular Service, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ukraine at an open meeting only a few days ago duly attended by many foreigners currently holding Visas under the old scheme. They do not need to get a new Visa until the old Visa expires.

The US Embassy is therefore apparently misinformed if you work on the premise that the Ukrainian Embassy issuing Visas for applicants from England and Wales and Mr Olefirov of the Foreign Ministry of Ukraine know more about issuing Ukrainian Visas than the US Embassy in Kyiv that doesn’t issue Ukrainian Visas.

I told you some months ago this would not be a seamless process and it would seem an absolute nonsense to make visa holders of the old system, some with considerable time still to run before expiry (indeed some only issued last week), have to buy new visas should they have occasion to leave Ukraine before the expiry dates of the old system visa.

The problems will concentrate themselves in familiar places. The OVIR offices and which Visas, if any, of the old system they will continue to extend (or not) and the height of the qualification bar for the new Long Term Visa as intgerpreted at the issuing Ukrainian embassies and consuls around the planet.

One has to suspect the US and Ukrainian embassies will end up being right half the time, depending on individual OVIR decisions throughout the regions. T’was ever the case the regional interpretation was the only one you were concerned about under the old system anyway.

Nobody has said, as yet, how high the bar for the new Long Term Visa is set. As it replaces most of the 16 Visas that existed before, all of which had different criteria to reach to be granted. Is the bar for the Long Term Visa set at the height of the old IM-1 which required a veritable tome of paperwork from applicant and employer, is it based on an official invitation as per the old Student Visa or God Squad Visa from a recognised national institution, or is it as low as the Private Visa and Business Visa used to be, requiring nothing more than an invitation from a Ukrainian citizen or entity.

The Private Visa was after all requested by many an OVIR prior to registration passed 90 days for those married to Ukrainians who were under the 2 years of marriage point where upon reaching said 2 years, can apply for Permanent Residency.

It is as yet, unclear whether there is a set height for the Long Term Visa or whether, depending upon your reason for applying for it, the numerous different heights still apply.

Feel free to write up your experiences in the comments section for the other readers or simply let me know so I can pass on your experiences of joy or woe.