KIEV — After my father’s death, my mother went to the military pension office to collect her survivor’s benefit. No, the clerk told her, she was out of luck, there would be no more payments for us. Dumbstruck, she left the office wondering how the family of a career officer could be thrown to the wolves like this. The clerk chased her down the hallway and whispered an offer — if she split the death benefit with him, he’d work something out.
Years later I told this story to Ukraine’s then-president Victor Yanukovich so he might better understand what I was …read more
Source: European Voice
