This article first appeared in New English Review.
As I watch the events unfold in Ukraine, I can't help recalling 1994 when I made two trips to that country as a member of DEA's International Training team to conduct a regional drug enforcement seminar in Kiev for drug control police from each of the former Soviet republics.
After the breakup of the Soviet Union, the former Soviet republics witnessed a sharp increase in drug trafficking through their territories and asked the US, through the State Department, for assistance in the form of training. Since my last post of duty with DEA before retiring was International Training from 1993-1995, I was there at a time when our teams were being sent to many of the former republics to advise and train their drug cops. In that role, I had the occasion to visit Latvia, Georgia, and Ukraine. After retirement, in 1997, I went to Moscow as a contract hire to assist DEA's International Training team put on a seminar in Russia. Altogether, it was an incredible experience.
DEA training team in Kiev. I am at far right.In April 1994, I traveled to Kiev to conduct advance preparations for a seminar scheduled for May-June, a period of two weeks. As team coordinator for this seminar, it was my job to arrange hotel accommodations, a seminar site, simultaneous interpreters, and other logistical arrangements. In Kiev, I was assisted by officers from the Ukrainian police from the Interior Ministry, the US Embassy, and the DEA county attache in Vienna. (There was no DEA office in Ukraine, and liaison was handled by our DEA office in Vienna. The country attache from Vienna was a Ukrainian-American who spoke Ukrainian fluently.)
During the few days I spent in Kiev, I was shown great hospitality by my Ukrainian counterparts. Of course, much of that hospitality came in the form of vodka, but I digress.
L-R, Ukrainian colleague, myself, two officers from Turkmenistan.
Our DEA team with Ukrainian colleague (in middle).
There was another site I visited in Ukraine, actually during my advance trip. I had requested the police to show me Babi Yar, the infamous ravine on the outskirts of the city where, during the German occupation in World War 2, over 30,000 Jews were murdered by the Germans.
All these memories are coming back to me now as Ukraine faces a Russian invasion. I think about the counterparts that I worked with, ate with, and drank with, and I worry about their common fate. I also think back about Taras Shevchenko and why he is Ukraine's national hero.
My prayers are with the people of Ukraine in this hour.
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