Dear Oksana, Jeff is absolutely correct regarding our commitment to invest in Ukraine. With God Almighty as my witness, and to Whom I will eventually answer, no mafia, no corruption, whether at street level or highest levels of government, will compromise our efforts.
You don't know me yet, but possibly you will at some point. For now, I will tell you this, with full assurance that I can back up everything I say, in or out of any honest court of law if necessary: I have resisted corruption in Russia and Ukraine for more than five years now, and I will never stop. I have been poisoned and jailed by Russian FSB, November 1, 2000 to be precise, not only for refusing to pay extortion money in exchange for being allowed to do business in Russia (Tomsk), but also for speaking out against corruption in Russia. I would do the same again without hesitation, except that Russian FSB are very, very afraid of me and will no longer allow me to enter the country. That is the only choice such cowards have in dealing with me. I've told them this before, and I say it again now.
Nevertheless, I left behind a large-scale community development project in Tomskaya Oblast (http://www.ri-tomsk.org [1]) that not even Russian FSB could block or prevent, and even Putin himself eventually supported.
In 2002-3, I proposed a similar project in Crimea, Ukraine ( http://www.p-ced.com/crimea [2] ) US Embassy - Kyiv, represented by Mr. Robert Garverick of the embassy's Economic Section, was quick to get behind the proposed $40 million four-year project. At my request, that project was halted after Crimea's Economy Minister and Deputy Prime Minister required bribes before allowing the proposed project to cross their desks as was required for implementation. The entire process is well-documented in the office of the US Ambassador to Ukraine, US Senate Committee on Intelligence, and to the office of former US Senator John Edwards. In addition, I spoke out in May 2003 in Kyiv Post's editorial section, in an interview on Voice of America-Ukraine (interviewer: Olga Kulish, Washington, DC), and more recently in an interview with International Committee for Crimea ( http://www.iccrimea.org/scholarly/economicdev.html [3] )
As soon as Crimea's Economy Minister and Deputy Prime Minister as of May 2003 are removed from office, I will request continuation of the Crimea project. There is no point in starting it as long as corrupt officials remain in office, and I will never be quiet about them. There is absolutely nothing to be done to silence me except kill me, and I am not afraid to die in the course of resisting corruption and demanding social and economic justice for my beloved Ukrainian brethren. That made me an Orange Revolutionary almost two years ago.
With the advent of the Orange Revolution -- an event I passionately, desperately hoped for and believed was possible from the hearts of Ukrainian people -- I am now preparing to modify the Crimea proposal to include all of Ukraine. I doubt very much that the US side will dare refuse me, because right is right. The case to be made for Ukraine now demands from any and every conceivable moral and/or strategic imperative that what was first suggested in the Crimea proposal now be expanded to all of Ukraine on condition that each and every local level where any implementation occurs is clear and clean of corruption. It's my work, my proposal, and I've said from the start, many times, on the record in many, many nooks and crannies of US government and elsewhere, that I will absolutely enforce copyright protection to prevent its use except in cases where corruption is disallowed. That is my right under Ukrainian, US and International Law.
Now, Ukraine has a president who is also passionately committed to anti-corruption. Here is the very simple solution to corruption: don't do it, don't participate in it. Mafia cannot collect one kopeck from me because I won't pay it. That is precisely what President Yushchenko is wanting of Ukrainian citizens, and I am certain that many millions of Ukrainians are of exactly that same opinion. If extortion is attempted against me, everyone knows what will happen: it won't be a secret, and I don't think new Ukraine's government is prepared to put up with it. It's the same for every person in Ukraine: if you hit corruption, publicize it, speak out, stand up. Nineteen days on Maidan was the start.
Razom! Terry E. Hallman Kharkiv, Ukraine