Is Ukraine really a good alternative?

[polo593]

I really like these forums, and I see there is much to be cautious about in finding a good woman to marry in any country, especially in Ukraine or Russia. Here's a couple of good articles that give some more insight to some problems in Ukraine.

Ukraine’s richest zoom ahead of rest of nation
by Mark Rachkevych, Assistant Editor, Kyiv Post
Jun 18 2008, 21:47

Ukraine’s richest got richer over the year, despite turbulent global markets and a world financial crisis, according to Korrespondent magazine’s third annual report on the issue.

Ukraine’s 50 wealthiest individuals saw their net worth almost double to $112.7 billion, owing to rising global energy and food demands, a robust domestic real estate market, and a construction and credit boom, the Kyiv Post’s Russian-language sister publication reported.

According to Korrespondent’s calculations, the capital the top 50 control is enough to finance the country’s state budget for two years and comprises 85 percent of Ukraine’s annual gross domestic product (GDP), whereas Russia’s richest can only boast of covering 35 percent of their country’s annual GDP.

“This is a very potential threat to civil society and the country as whole since this doesn’t give the middle class a chance to form,” said Viktor Stepanenko, a civil society expert at the Institute of Sociology within the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. “This kind of concentration of wealth marginalizes people and slows the formation of middle class values in society.”

Put another way, Korrespondent said the wealth of the richest 50 is triple what Ukraine has received in foreign direct investment since gaining independence in 1991.

The top­heavy wealth concentration, experts said, is also a warning sign that a handful of oligarchs may have co­opted the state. The danger is that the public interest will be subverted, experts said, with government adopting policies and laws that favor the elite at the expense of everyone else.

“The outcome of this for civil society is the public doesn’t control its interests,” Stepanenko said. “Its future is in the hands of a select few people who can act in their interests,” not in the country’s best interests, Stepanenko said.

Not many of Ukraine’s richest tycoons achieved their current positions based on entrepreneurial creativity or merit.

Indeed, at least 20 on the top 50 owned capital in Ukraine’s flagship, Soviet­built industries of metallurgy and energy. They acquired these assets during the roaring 1990s era of shady privatization.

“When you have a huge disparity between the 10 percent richest and 10 percent poorest in a country, this is an indicator that a country is unstable from the standpoint that society doesn’t view those with money as being legitimate, that wealth was acquired dishonestly,” said Mykhailo Mischchenko of the Razumkov Center, a Kyiv­based think tank.

Another 10 in the top list amassed wealth in the banking sector, due mostly to Ukrainians’ fast­growing demand for credit, Korrespondent observed.

Altogether, the list only saw six newcomers emerging from the construction, agri­business, food and trading sectors ­ some of whom tripled their wealth in a short period of time.

“What’s at stake here is not how much influence the richest have, it’s what they’re doing with their money,” said Jathan Tucker, a trader at Galt & Taggert Securities. “It’s good if they’re re­investing their money in infrastructure, in modernization, in new plants but it’s also wrought with pitfalls if they influence politics and engage in capital flight by keeping money out of the country.”

If this trend continues, some warn, the pace at which crucial institutional reforms are made may continue slowly because change runs counter to the interests of the ruling elite.

“This means limited political competition, an impotent civil society, and high growth among those who control the country’s capital because they have all the advantages,” Stepanenko said.

But others see hopeful signs among Ukraine’s elite.

Tucker said Ukraine’s leading businessmen are getting more transparent and integrating into global financial markets.

“Many companies are now publicly traded so there’s a constant incentive to keep things transparent and viable for the long­term here,” Tucker said.

The annual Korrespondent rating is based on asset valuations calculated by Dragon Capital, a leading Kyiv­based investment bank.

Far and away topping the list was Rinat Akhmetov, who has his hands in every key industry of the nation as System Capital Management’s controlling shareholder. His wealth is estimated at more than $30 billion.

Coal mining proved highly lucrative as Energy Concern’s three owners Viktor Nusenkis (7th), Leonid Baisarov (16th) and Gennadiy Vasylev (16th) all were promoted from being millionaires to billionaires.

Dnipropetrovsk’s Privat Group controlled by Ihor Kolomoysky (3rd), Gennadiy Bogolyubov (4th) and Oleksiy Martynov (6th) have a combined wealth of $17.7 billion and continue to integrate their enterprises by purchasing assets abroad.

High global food prices and fluctuating financial markets allowed bankers, builders and food growers and producers to increase their net worth. For example, mega­builders Mykola Tolmachev (38th) and Lev Partskhaladze (37th) doubled their wealth and Velyka Kishenya supermarket chain owner Roman Lunin (23rd) practically tripled his.

Although vodka producers took a hit last year, dairy producers profited: Ihor Yermeev (40th) and his companion Stepan Ivakhym (41st) nearly breached the billion­dollar mark.


And this article is disturbing as well...
Racist attacks on rise
by Elisabeth Sewall, Kyiv Post, Editor
Jun 18 2008, 21:52

Racially­motivated violence reached unprecedented heights so far this year in Kyiv and throughout Ukraine, with more than 40 attacks and as many as six murders, according to nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) that are tracking such incidents.

In the past three weeks alone, two African citizens died on Kyiv streets, one a confirmed murder, the other not. But those two deaths brought to the number of suspected hate killings to six so far this year in the city.

“Regarding the situation in Kyiv right now, and throughout Ukraine, it is not something to joke about,” said Dr. Johnson Aniki, a Nigerian community leader in Kyiv.

“Foreigners, including Africans, live in fear. People are afraid to walk on the streets, people are afraid to walk home after work. The situation is very serious today.”

The attacks are all the more alarming, considering the number of Africans living in Ukraine is estimated to be only 10,000. Also, in a nation dominated by ethnic Ukrainians and Russians, other groups might account for as little as 4 percent of the national population of 46 million people.

Three years ago, Africans and other ethnic minorities in Ukraine said they started to feel a rise in hostility towards them, mirroring events in Russia.

At that time, in 2006, watchdogs recorded 14 racially motivated attacks and two murders, and police minimized the problem, labeling the perpetrators of these acts mere “hooligans.”

Since then, the recorded number of violent attacks against ethnic minorities and foreigners in Ukraine has skyrocketed. In 2007, there were 68 confirmed attacks, including eight murders.

Watchdogs and African community leaders stress that these figures do not come close to the true extent of harassment. Official statistics don’t exist.

Prompted by the recent violence, Aniki was among the organizers of a press conference held June 11 to raise awareness of the growing problem with xenophobic and racist crimes, and to urge Ukraine’s current government to implement stronger measures against hate crimes.

Prominent members of Ukraine’s African community were joined by Anna German, Party of the Regions’ politician, and Walid Harfouch, a person of Lebanese heritage who is known in Ukraine’s entertainment industry. Also attending were a lawyer representing a hate crime victim in Dnepropetrovsk and a representative of the Ministry of the Interior.

“What is happening today in Ukraine could be received as completely unexpected, a turning point,” said Dr. John George Manuwuike, the chairman of the Ukrainian chapter of the Nigerians In Diaspora Organization Europe (NIDOE).

“We decided nevertheless to bring this question to the attention of the international community, so that today, the current Ukrainian administration takes strong measures to prevent the further development of this and extirpate racism in Ukraine as a social phenomena.”

 

Racist police

Members of Ukraine’s African community said that the police seem apathetic to their cause and are often racist themselves.

“Attacks against Africans have been going on since I came to Ukraine,” said Charles Asante­Yeboa, a citizen of Ghana who has been living in Kyiv for more than eight years.

Yeboa, the president of Kyiv’s African Center, said the center now records no less than three “incidents” a day.

But before incidents were “sporadic, not regular,” and mostly perpetrated by police, he said, who would demand documents and accuse a person of not having them in order to get a bribe.

After the Orange Revolution, Yeboa said, there was a period of calm in attacks, but then the nature of the attacks changed. “It’s no longer by the police, this time it’s by so­called hooligans,” he said.

Recent fatal victims include Baie Olubaiode, in his 40s, a handicapped Nigerian citizen who worked at Shuliavka market, and Atunga Luwila, 47, an asylum seeker from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

Olubaiode was found dead with 10 knife wounds to his neck and stomach on May 29 in Kyiv’s Solmianskyi district. Watchdogs said the suspects are two young men, but so far no one has been charged for the murder. Reports also indicate that there were witnesses but nobody helped him.

Luwila, who had been on his way to work, was found dead lying face down on Harmantnaya street, near the Bolshevik shopping complex on the morning of June 9. He was found by a co­worker around 8:40 a.m. Witnesses reported seeing bruises to the victim’s face and apparent severe head trauma. Police behavior at the scene alarmed witnesses and provoked rumors that they were hiding something.

According to members of Ukraine’s African community who arrived at the crime scene, police prohibited anyone from taking photographs of the body and told them the cause of death was most likely an epileptic seizure, which caused the victim to fall and hit his head on a metal pole nearby. The investigation is ongoing.

 

Government inaction

Watchdogs are also frustrated by what they see as inaction by Ukraine’s government.

While they are doing “better” at fighting racially­motivated violence and pursuing cases where they weren’t before, said Jeffrey Labovitz, chief of mission for the International Organization for Migration (IOM), the slowness to change was perhaps due to “naivete.” The threat was so new that government authorities didn’t know how to react, but nonetheless, he doesn’t understand the hesitancy to change.

“First, they said there was no racism, then they said they were hooligans, then they accepted that maybe there are some aspects of racism, but they were very isolated cases,” Yeboa said.

“Then, they say ‘OK, there are skinheads, about 500, who are committing these acts.’ Skinheads cannot be hooligans in the first place,” he added.

Hate crimes are on the rise across Ukraine’s major cities, affecting business leaders, athletes, students and immigrants alike.

Last year for the first time, even women reported being attacked, said Labovitz.

IOM is one of several NGOs who collected comprehensive records of all attacks that occurred within the last three years.

Their records show the wide range of harassment and violent behavior ethnic minorities have been subject to over the last three years.

On Jan. 31 of this year, for example, a Libyan citizen was kidnapped, beaten and robbed after hailing a taxi. He ws driven to the city outskirts where a group of men beat him and stole his documents.

On Feb. 12, also this year, the black wife of an American diplomat reported being verbally harassed and threatened by a single Ukrainian male for several minutes at a local park, while walking with her young child at around 9 a.m.

The incident that most struck him, Labovitz said, was the death of 18­year­old Joseph Bunto, a Congolese asylum seeker who was stabbed 18 times on Jan. 27 after running down to a local store to buy water.

The violence, experts say, is being perpetrated by a small, but organized skinhead subculture that has taken root in Ukraine’s major urban centers, particularly in cities with large foreign student populations, such as Kyiv, Kharkiv, Uzhhorod, Odesa and Vinnitsya.

Africans are particularly targeted in racist attacks, but Arabs, Asians, and Jews are also targeted.

The worst problem appears to be in Kyiv, where police and human rights organizations have counted 500 skinheads and where there is the highest record of racially­motivated attacks. Watchdogs and Ukraine’s government estimate that there is a total of between 1,500 and 2,000 skinheads across Ukraine.

“Previously, you could find a lot of Africans on Khreshatyk, near the central post office, now it’s a forbidden place for Africans. This is going on in different regions of Kyiv,” Aniki said.

Ukraine’s skinheads lack telltale signs of their ideology, such as the shaved­heads and patent leather black boots. “Today there are none of these signs, this means that they are among us, maybe they live on our streets, at the same entrance, on the same floor as us, they could be our neighbors, or at our place of work. So we are the only ones who can protect ourselves,” said Aniki.

Videos found on the Internet by watchdogs show groups of young men in everyday clothing, sneaking up on unsuspecting victims, beating them up in front of the camera and burning their documents. Watchdogs said the videos, which have since been taken off the Internet, were found on Ukrainian and Russian extremist Web sites.

“We believe they are an organized body because of the meticulous way in which they perpetrate these atrocities,” said Yeboa. “It’s coordinated, or specially­planned, to either intimidate, attack, kill, or whatever, foreigners, especially Africans.”

On Jan. 10, Yeboa himself was attacked while walking by a group of about 15 men, aged 16 to about 30 years old, and armed with a knife, iron bars and bottles.

“They were saying ‘let’s cut his head.’ I had to hold the guy who had the knife, and the knife entered my ear here, it cut here, and entered here deep,” Yeboa said, gesturing to his eye and different parts of his face.

“It was in the last minute, when I was holding the person who had the knife … and all of a sudden, a private minivan came around. He came to stop there and as he stopped, the light fell on them (the attackers) and they all ran away.”

Yeboa said his attackers were caught and arrested, but as of today, they still haven’t been prosecuted.

 

Media fueling the fire

Ukraine’s media is also accused of feeding into the extremist groups’ cause by spreading one­sided and negative reporting of the nation’s immigrants and foreigners.

Yeboa was disturbed by an article in Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper about Joseph Bunto’s Jan.27 murder.

“Instead of going straight to the point, the media … wrote under that ‘he is a refugee and claims to be living on 40 or 50 dollars a month, trying to divert the whole incident, trying to create the impression that he was involved in some illegal activities and maybe he was killed because of that.” Yeboa said. 

“Presidential administration was surrounded by Negroes,” was the title of another article that shocked watchdogs, about an anti­racism rally in Kyiv last year. The article was published by UNIAN, Ukraine’s main information service.

On June 13, another popular Ukrainian newspaper, Zerkalo Tyzhden, wrote a sensationalist report titled “Kyiv: a paradise for illegals?”

“It appears that if a unified state body for migrant issues doesn’t start working soon in Ukraine, and doesn’t implement a law about migration services, government authorities will have to shift the center of permanent language discussion from the Slavic group, to Turkic, Semitic or other languages,” journalist Inna Vedernikova wrote.

The article goes on to provide statistics about the sharp rise in crimes committed by “foreigners,” later referring to the problem in terms of “foreigners” and “illegal migrants” without clearly distinction between the two.

It cites Kyiv’s city prosecutor, Yevgenyi Blazhivskiy, saying that “the amount of unaccounted (unregistered) immigrants has exceeded 1 million.”

However, according to IOM’s Labovitz, “any figures claiming to show the number of illegal immigrants in Ukraine are inaccurate, as there has been no research or way to track numbers.”

 

NGOs filling the gap

Prominent international NGOs have stepped in to fill what they call Ukraine’s “pronounced lack of statistics on hate crimes.”

“There are very few consistent or well­publicized statistics collected by government agencies,” cited a report by an IOM­supported initiative. “Nor do the various government bureaus separately responsible for what might be classified at (sic) hate crimes — i.e. the Ministry of Interior, the State Security Service and the General Prosecutor – coordinate their activities in a meaningful way.”

Experts say there has been a lack of monitoring beyond Kyiv. That will be changing, as local and international NGOs step up efforts over the next year to combat xenophobia and racism through monitoring and awareness campaigns.

At the beginning of 2007, IOM teamed up with United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, and Amnesty International and other NGOs and organizations to create the Diversity Initiative, a comprehensive project that aims to foster awareness and communicate ideas on how to fight xenophobia and racism in Ukraine.

The initiative, with cooperation from over 30 organizations, is broken into three main subgroups, legal, government, and civic, each organized to fund projects aimed at spreading awareness and making progress in their respective spheres.

Kyiv­based Center for Civil Liberties initiated the first countrywide monitoring program this May and hopes to publish their results by the end of the year.

Labovitz and other watchdogs say the fight against racism and xenophobia in Ukraine is missing an important component, which is an information campaign at schools and within broader society to educate Ukrainians on diversity and other cultures.

Despite 16 years of independence, Ukraine remains a highly insulated, homogenous society, and its citizens lack exposure to other cultures and ways of life, particularly to different ethnicities.

 

Tarnishing Ukraine’s image

The rise in hate crimes and the Ukrainian government’s slowness to punish the perpetrators of the violence, threatens to tarnish Ukraine’s international reputation at a critical time.

Ukraine’s politicians are striving to bring the country down a path towards European Union­integration and NATO accession, as well as attract investment before the UEFA­2012 football championships.

“Regarding what Ukraine’s government aims to achieve today, I would say the president’s party, in the area of democratization of society compared to other post­Soviet countries is quite laudable,” NIDOE’s Manuwuike said. “But at the same time, what we’re discussing today is a big negative on the reputation that Ukraine is building in front of the world, at home.”

A study published this past January by the Kennan Institute, a U.S.­based think­tank associated with the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, found that Kyiv has become a leading destination for transnational migrants from Asian, African and some Middle Eastern countries.

Most of Ukraine’s migrants come from China, Vietnam, Pakistan, India and Afghanistan, as well as African countries, particularly Nigeria, Angola, Somalia and the DRC, as well as Indonesia and Iran.

Asian and African migrants typically participate in retail trade and services.

“By overcoming deep­rooted prejudices against migrants,” Ukraine “will be able to find the human resources required to grow and prosper in a global marketplace,” the report stressed.

Despite setbacks, watchdogs see signs of improvement. The government recently started using its problematic hate crimes law, Article 161, to prosecute in some cases. The law, which has existed since Soviet times, has been used only four times in history, three of which occurred just this past April and May for hate crimes that have taken place over the last three years.

They are the first cases of hate crimes convictions in Ukraine for direct violence against individuals.

It is uncertain what the punishments in each case will be, but watchdogs see it as a definite step in the right direction.

[steviej]

"a handful of oligarchs may have co­opted the state. "

In the USA, the gap between rich and poor has increased by more than 40-fold over the past 20 years. The upper 3% now controls over 90% of the nation's wealth. Twenty years ago, the average CEO made about 30 times the amount of the average worker. Now, it is more than 1000 times more. The middle class is becoming depleted in the USA, big time.

Your concern about racism - I take it you are black?

[topofthekey]

what do i know- im new here, but i thought polo might just be a feminist.

one post- dont go to the ukraine.

let me get 5 or six negative articles about the USA. dont go there either.

was going to say a women- but technically a feminist can be a man or a woman

[steviej]

what do i know- im new here, but i thought polo might just be a feminist.

one post- dont go to the ukraine.

let me get 5 or six negative articles about the USA. dont go there either.

was going to say a women- but technically a feminist can be a man or a woman

Good one - funny LOL You are right, could be a feminist too I hate to laugh too much at some else's expense too often, but that is funny ...

[topofthekey]

technically you aren't supposed to copy full articles. aren't you just supposed to post an intro with a link? I wasn't trying to hate, but i looks like polo registered just to post the articles.

[msmoby_ru]

technically you aren't supposed to copy full articles. aren't you just supposed to post an intro with a link? I wasn't trying to hate, but i looks like polo registered just to post the articles.

May be some thoughtful person joined on behalf of the women of Kiev and future WM suitors, hoping this might discourage "ambach123" from going

[Ronnie]

Ukraine is the best wife factory yet!

[Shadow]

Polo, could you explain me why this is causing concern in finding a wife in Ukraine ?

[topofthekey]

May be some thoughtful person joined on behalf of the women of Kiev and future WM suitors, hoping this might discourage "ambach123" from going

Isn't ambach the guy shouting from the rooftops about how rich he is? Sounds like there might be women and agenices that would appreciate his visit. no?   :usdeyes:

[ScottinCrimea]

The OP is correct.  Ukraine, especially Crimea, is a terrible place and foreigners should stay away and leave it to us who are willing to suffer such miseries. 

[Ronnie]

The OP is correct.  Ukraine, especially Crimea, is a terrible place and foreigners should stay away and leave it to us who are willing to suffer such miseries. 

Oh, yeah.  Ummm what I meant to say is 

Ukraine is the best wife factory for producing the worst wives.  Yeah, that's the ticket.  Good, but bad....very bad.  Stay away.

(How's that Scott?) 

[Ronnie]

Guys should go to Belarus.. no political problems there.  Brutal dictatorships are good that way.

[steviej]

Guys should go to Belarus.. no political problems there.  Brutal dictatorships are good that way.

  You guys are funny! Actually, have either of you guys heard of fellows successfully marrying women from Belarus? Your comment just made me realize that I haven't heard anything about it on this forum. One thing the worried me about Belarus is that's where the vast majority of the radioactive damage from Chernobyl happened. More than 20% of their entire agricultural land has been destroyed. I worried about my own health going there, and I confess, I even worried a bit about the girls growing up there.

[Shadow]

Actually there are a few couples from Belarus here (although they might be inactive).
There are less couples from the FSU 'stans... I wonder why.

[msmoby_ru]

One thing the worried me about Belarus is that's where the vast majority of the radioactive damage from Chernobyl happened. More than 20% of their entire agricultural land has been destroyed. I worried about my own health going there, and I confess, I even worried a bit about the girls growing up there.

Hi Stevej

Kiev and the areas of Ukraine were badly affected by Chernobyl, too.. look at a map and note which way the river flows !

Thyroid, Leukaemia, Brest cancer etc all above the norm..

[ScottinCrimea]

You guys are funny! Actually, have either of you guys heard of fellows successfully marrying women from Belarus? Your comment just made me realize that I haven't heard anything about it on this forum. One thing the worried me about Belarus is that's where the vast majority of the radioactive damage from Chernobyl happened. More than 20% of their entire agricultural land has been destroyed. I worried about my own health going there, and I confess, I even worried a bit about the girls growing up there.

Hey, a few extra body parts here tnd there is not always a bad thing!   :hipdude:

[steviej]

.. Kiev and the areas of Ukraine were badly affected by Chernobyl, too.. look at a map and note which way the river flows !

That's right. It's a miracle that Kiev wasn't wiped off the face of the earth. It's only 80 km from Chernobyl. It was pure luck that during the first critical days after the explosion, the wind was blowing north, and all (most anyway) of the heavy contaminants went north as well. The water, as you pointed out, went south. But with water, the heavy contaminants sink pretty quick and get embedded in the sediment. As long as you don't stir it up, you can be OK. The air on the other hand, leeaves the contaminants in the surface soil ( hoping you didn't breathe it already). Chernobyl is still cooking, and will for hundreds of years. They just finished building a new, longer lasting and more secure concrete dome cover. But it is only a cover. Take a look underneath and .. Oh Oh !!

[Jumper]

Actually, have either of you guys heard of fellows successfully marrying women from Belarus?

yes ,member GON married a woman from belarus,they have been married about 5 years,,,and they have a beautiful little girl now
(his wife is also a member,neither are very active in posting anymore,busy lives )

[DKMM]

I was going to take the Chernobyl tour but my girl told me she won't have kids with me if I do it.  So I settled for the musuem in Kiev instead.  Its a cool place, I highly recommend it.  Its not romantic though so the date was kind of blown.

I've done the search in Russia and Ukraine.  I have to say there isn't much of a difference, but Ukrainians are better looking although less refined.

[Ronnie]

I've done the search in Russia and Ukraine.  I have to say there isn't much of a difference, but Ukrainians are better looking although less refined.

My observations also.

[dispozo]

Here is a little article about the Chernobly area: http://blog.kievukraine.info/

[ScottinCrimea]

I've done the search in Russia and Ukraine.  I have to say there isn't much of a difference, but Ukrainians are better looking although less refined.

You can get yourself in a lot of trouble with a generalization like this.  Better to say "the ones I have met"  or "in my limited experience..."  Because your experience, time spent there and the variety of people you have met is not all that great.

It also puts you in a bit of a quandary because what do you say about areas of Ukraine where the majority is of Russian nationality?  For example, my wife's parents are from Russia - St. Petersburg and Siberia.  She was born in Ukraine but considers herself Russian, as do the majority of the students that I taught in Crimea.

I guess she has the best of both worlds - very good looking and very refined. 

[steviej]

I have to say there isn't much of a difference, but Ukrainians are better looking although less refined.

I haven't heard that generalization before. Do you think its something about style, or is it physical? They are all Slavic. Some thousands of years ago I think the Slavs broke into three groups: the Southern Slavs (Slovenia, Slovakia, etc, now), the Northern Slavs (pretty much mixed with Balts and Germans now - think Polish), and the Eastern Slavs (bcamse the "Great Russians" mostly). The original Ukrainians were part of the Eastern Slavs, I think, but  I may be wrong about that. Are there more "natural" blonds in Russia than Ukraine? My wife is a natural blue-eyed blond, and I took that to be more of the classic "Russian beauty", but perhaps you see it more in Ukraine? Just curious

[topofthekey]

Make sure your future bride doesn't look the girl in this link

take her swimming or something to make sure....  :whirling:



http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.joe-ks.com/archives_jan2004/MissChernobyl2004.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.joe-ks.com/archives_jan2004/MissChernobyl2004.htm&h=474&w=302&sz=30&tbnid=cVajKZejkTUJ::&tbnh=129&tbnw=82&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dchernobyl&hl=en&sa=X&oi=image_result&resnum=1&ct=image&cd=1

[steviej]

For any of you interested in more about Chernobyl, there's a great book by Russian author Svetlana Aleksievich called "Voices of Chernobyl".