Beware of corrupt Ukrainian police! They are happy to spot foreign tourists and check up their documents and money expecting bribes (especially on the Crimean Peninsula). They may ask you to show them all the money you?ve got. Just to see if you don?t have counterfeit notes. While checking, they may try to steal some of the notes. If it doesn?t work, they always may say that the notes are counterfeit and they must confiscate them. How to avoid such unpleasant encounters? It?s easy. Don?t dress like a tourist! Do not wear sandals, shorts or a huge backpack with an internal frame. I met a group of Polish tourists who looked like this. They said the police stopped them on the street sometimes three or four times a day! Nothing like that ever happened to me. Nor to people I travelled with. But we wore neither sandals nor shorts, and our backpacks were discreet? But if such an unpleasant situation does happen to you, the best solution is to say, ?I?ve already been inspected today?. They may believe you and go away. If they don?t, you have no choice but show your passport and money to them. In more serious cases, you may try to threat them by taking out your mobile phone and saying, ?Ya zvonyu po moyemu posol?stvu (I?m calling my embassy)?. This should help.
