二十八年前，俺在匈牙利混的時候，接觸到過不少前蘇聯加盟國，如立陶宛、白俄羅斯、阿塞拜疆、格魯吉亞、愛沙尼亞、烏克蘭等，的知識分子。其中大部分人跟來自朝鮮的一樣，乖乖地每個月一次到大使館參加“形勢學習”，戰戰兢兢讀書過日子，很少有胡言亂語的，但有一位大鬍子卻不信邪。

他跟我同事一年半，從來不踏入蘇聯駐匈使館的大門，而且政治牢騷極多，對俄羅斯統治他的家園恨之入骨。唯一讓他開心的，是當時盧布兌換美元的比率極高（記得是 1:3，即一個盧布可兌換三個美金），但兌換匈牙利的福林卻出奇地低。如此，他就可以利用留學生的身份將剩餘的福林換成盧布，再將盧布兌成美元。他說他就是故意“挖社會主義的牆角”。俺這個“生在新社會，長在紅旗下”的老實人聽聽都感覺挺害怕的。呵呵。

這個叛逆的年輕人叫 Ivan(毅頑)，是一個烏克蘭人。

不久，東歐爆發革命，推翻了鐵桶一般的共產黨統治，Ivan 也在蘇聯倒台後來到了美國，並以他高端的智商情商很快就在一個大學裡混到了 Tenure 的位置。

五年前，Ivan 突然放棄這裡的一切，帶着妻兒，離職回國“搞革命”去了！

原來，自從蘇聯解體後，地處俄-歐隔離帶的烏克蘭一直處於動盪的局勢，經濟一落萬丈，民不聊生。（據說現在烏克蘭的 GDP 還不到中國的一半。）

Ivan 是極力主張他的祖國擺脫沙俄的影響，往西歐靠攏，並儘快加入歐盟的。

現在，經過幾個星期的流血抗爭，那位親沙俄的（亦有可能是給親歐的前前總統下毒的）總統被趕下了台，他那金碧輝煌的私人莊園也遭到了曝光。

問題是，現在的歐盟有這個政治決心和經濟實力幫助 Ivan 實現他的願望嗎？

無論如何，我非常佩服 Ivan  的勇氣和為了信念契而不舍的民族主義精神。

祝賀 Ivan 及其同黨們目前的勝利！

衷心祝願烏克蘭人民能免遭國家分裂和戰亂，能儘快過上和平、自由、富足和喜樂的生活！

對於這位被趕下台的腐敗總統是如何搜刮民脂民膏的，媒體報道頗多，俺不贅述了。有興趣的朋友可以參看這個CNN 視頻 《金碧輝煌的私人莊園》。

FoxNews 也有一篇文章，轉貼如下：

Monument to corruption: Ukraine's most-wanted man built $75M home on a $25G salary

Published February 24, 2014, FoxNews.com

The Ukraine’s most-wanted man, ousted President Viktor Yanukovych, remains on the run as his stunned countrymen tour his dream home, the impoverished nation’s answer to Versailles and what some are calling a “monument to corruption.”

Yanukovych, who OpenDemocracy.net reported earned less than $25,000 per year for most of his political career, is believed to have owned several homes around the economically-strapped nation, but none symbolized his greed and corruption more than the $75 million mansion he completed in Mezhyhirya in 2012. Built on the site of a Soviet-era dacha, the 340-acre estate, just north of Kiev on the bank of the Dnieper River, has features that would make the stickiest-fingered dictator blush, according to OpenDemocracy.net.

In a 2012 article on the excesses of Mezhyhirya, the nonprofit site reported that:

• Each of the mansion’s Lebanese cedar doors cost $64,000.
• Three sets of wooden paneling for staircases cost $200,000.
• Cladding for a neoclassical column and parapet for a flight of steps cost $430,000.
• In just 18 months, Yanukovych spent nearly $9.5 million on imported fittings for the home.

“In a country where 35 percent of the population lives under the poverty line, spending $100,000 on each individual chandelier seems excessive, to say the least,” wrote Sergii Leshchenko.

Yanukovych even used the people’s money to build a gleaming new highway connecting Mezhyhirya to Kiev shortly after he came to power in 2010.

The story of how Yanukovych acquired the 340-acre estate where he built his dream home illustrates his brazen abuse of power to enrich himself, say critics. The property, built on the site of a 14th century monastery, was originally a Soviet-era dacha, or country home, used by communist leaders as a getaway. After Ukraine gained its independence from Russia, it was used to accommodate foreign delegations. But when Yanukovych was appointed prime minister in 2002, he moved into the dacha. First, he rented the home; then, after a series of changes in Ukraine’s government that saw him leave and return to power, he simply took the home for himself, according to OpenDemocracy.net.

When he became president in 2010, he demolished all of the buildings at Mezhyhirya and began building his dream home, a five-story stone palace replete with imported marble floors, gold fixtures and exotic wood -- and surrounded by a 35-mile long, 15-foot high fence. Although he often bragged about his home to other world leaders, his ego did have a limit: When the Finnish construction company that built it for him sought to nominate it for inclusion in the Guinness Book of Records based on its sheer size, Yanukovych blocked the move.

The 63-year-old Yanukovych served as president of Ukraine from 2010 until last week, when he was ousted from power in what he called a coup. He is now the nation’s most-wanted man, accused of a litany of crimes -- including murder and corruption.

A political survivor who as a teen served prison time for robbery and assault, Yanukovych rose from a career as a trucking manager and mechanical engineer in the 1970s and 1980s to a minor position in the province of Donestk. In 1997, he became the governor of Donetsk, serving until 2002 when he became prime minister of Ukraine. He held that position for two years, before failing in his first bid to become president. But he returned as prime minister in 2006, serving another two years and setting the stage for his election to the presidency in February 2010.

With the manhunt now on for the ousted kleptocrat, the home reporters called a “monument to corruption” is open to the people, with opposition guards on hand to prevent looting. Thousands of Ukrainians poured onto the grounds over the weekend, marveling at the sheer opulence in which their former president lived.

Visitors gawked in awe and outrage at the ponds and exotic animals, and journalists combed through heaps of documents that appeared to show a leader who basked in extravagant wealth while his country sought bailouts from both the West and Russia.

Many of the financial and other documents were burned, while others were dumped in a lake before Yanukovych fled his closely guarded residence, flying to the eastern city of Kharkiv, where his support base is strongest. Divers were able to retrieve many of the documents, and activists laid them out to dry.

The drying papers included a bank receipt for $12 million in cash, a $2.3 million receipt for the decoration of a dining hall and a $115,000 price tag for a statue of a wild boar.

Photos of the documents were posted online by Mustafa Nayem, a top Ukrainian investigative journalist for the Ukrainska Pravda website and Hromadske.tv online news channel.

Yanukovych remains at large, but for now it seems clear he will never again dwell in the lavish home he built. Freedom-minded Ukrainians, still stunned at the greed of their ousted president, are calling for the home to be turned into a hospital, sanatorium or even a “museum of corruption."