A reminder of why Ukrainians revolted 12 years ago

President Viktor Yanukovych devised seemingly endless schemes to steal from his nation and enrich his cronies before running to his Kremlin masters in 2014.

This is Kyiv Post chief editor Brian Bonner’s summary of the Jan. 13, 2013, edition, which can be read here in PDF format:

We're happy to come out with a blockbuster investigation into Ukraine's notoriously corrupt state customs service. The big question in "Customs Cash Cow" is why President Viktor Yanukovych would give his blessing to a private business with a murky offshore ownership structure to collect millions of dollars in fees annually that could otherwise, it would seem, have gone to the state. The president's spokesman said it wasn't a public issue, so wouldn't comment. Two reporters with the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project conducted the investigation, led by Kyiv Post staff writer Vlad Lavrov.

Energy & natural resources are dominant issues for Ukraine and the topic of this week's Business Focus with seven staff-written stories and an op-ed column.

There's lots more. In Lifestyle, Daryna Shevchenko writes about city leaders' attempt to instill in children the civic duty of paying taxes. They do so with new playground sculptures featuring "racketeer-spider" and "smuggler-scorpion" as the bad guys. Also, Olga Rudenko alerts readers to the latest guide for men interested in having sex with Ukrainian women, written by an American author.

Enjoy! As always, thanks to readers & advertisers. Brian Bonner