Ukraine's leading English-language newspaper since 1995

Bachelor’s of fraud

Employers say workers with advanced degrees are in demand. Some potential employees are finding they can get the benefits of a quality post-secondary education without attending classes and taking examinations. They’re taking the easy route and simply buying phony diplomas and transcripts.

Kievskiye Vedomosti reports that at Kyiv’s Petrivka book market, “students” can purchase a technical-education diploma from a Ukrainian institute for $50. A scientific degree, complete with a transcript and bearing the institution’s “official” stamp, costs several times more.

Count them in!

Yury Koshovy, head of the census in Kyiv’s Dniprovsky district, took a reporter with him to a shelter for homeless people to show how the census counts the down-and-out. “Thousands of our compatriots, left without dwellings or money, want to announce their existence,” a Fakty article said.

Airborne Antics

The crew of a chartered jet carrying Russian television journalists to cover an official trip to Greece by President Vladimir Putin may have had too much in-flight service. For-UA.com reported that the passengers were drunken and rowdy, demanding additional liquor and chasers. They harassed the airliner’s crew and tried at one point to cause the jet to roll. The boozy broadcasters were compelled to report to a judge upon their arrival in Athens.

Kefir, now with added

bacteria and grain!

Ukrainian News reported that Galakton, one of Ukraine’s largest dairy producers, has rolled out a new version of kefir. Galakton said the dairy drink, which resembles buttermilk, has been improved by adding bifido bacteria, said to improve digestion, and grain. The added bacteria are believed to replenish beneficial intestinal “flora” that are killed by extensive alcohol use.

Me talk pretty

Leonid Kuchma: Defender of the Constitution, president, language teacher.

Ukrainian News reports that Kuchma vowed during a recent news conference that he is teaching Interior Minister Yury Smyrnov to speak Ukrainian. The president isn’t interested in taking on State Tax Administration head Mykola Azarov as a student, though.

“He won’t master Ukrainian no matter how many teachers you give him,” Kuchma said.