A day after a silver Mercedes nearly ran him over while he was jogging in what he described as an attempted assassination, American businessman Joseph Lemire sat in a room with several of his countrymen on Monday learning how spot surveillance and homemade explosives and getting tips on surviving hostage-takings.
It was all part of a two-hour presentation conducted at the American Business Center by an agent from the U.S. State Department's Mobile Security Division.
According to the agent, Regis Sheehan, the lectures are aimed at foreigners living in any country plagued by a high crime rate or terrorist activity.
'Of course there's no terrorism in Ukraine, but there is a possibility of crime,' said Sheehan.
To judge Monday's low turnout, few expatriates are worried. Even some of the Americans in attendance said their presence did not imply fear.
'I don't feel unsafe in Ukraine,' said one man who declined to give his last name. 'We just want to stay aware of what's going on around us no matter where we live.' Not so Lemire. He is the president of Gala Radio, a controversial radio station whose fight with Ukrainian authorities has come to symbolize problems experienced here by foreign investors.
'[I came here] because I'm tired of the retaliation,' Lemire said. His previous reports of threats and physical intimidation have been taken seriously by the U.S. Embassy's security staff.
The embassy's 1998 security report says crime in Ukraine is on the rise and poses a serious threat to the expatriate community, which 'continues to be targeted by various manifestations of street crime, property crime, and organized crime and corruption.'
And while crimes against foreigners seldom rise above the level of random thefts and muggings, expatriates living and doing business in Ukraine on a permanent basis do run a greater risk of being targeted by burglars or the mafia. Monday's lecture advised Westerners worried about surveillance to vary their routines and take basic precautions at home and in the workplace.
They were told that their best chance of surviving as a hostage is to follow orders, project a non-threatening image and attempt to build a rapport with their captors.
