Chapter 261: The Business Is Coming

The old men hung out in Moscow for a week, and basically used up everyone's 20,000 U.S. dollars in consumption.

It's not that the old men are too extravagant, but that many things here are really cheap. Due to the continuous depreciation of the ruble, the salary received by many retired workers is not enough for a week's consumption, and this situation is still going on. Therefore, Russians I prefer to accept strong goods like US dollars, and the price is naturally negotiable.

Therefore, the old men bought a lot of rare things, and after a final count, they probably needed to be transported back by chartered plane, but if you calculate the value of these things, they can probably be doubled after returning to China, right?

There are also some people from the Russian research institute who secretly contacted the old man, probably wanting to sell some research results, but most of them are for civilian use. After all, the military technical achievements are too eye-catching, and the officials are also keeping a close eye on them. , and the people in the research institute don't believe that the old men can pay too high a price. On the contrary, civilian projects are easier to trade.

In this way, although there was no espionage activity, Fan Wubing and others returned with a full load. As soon as he was happy, he booked a chartered flight and shipped the things back first.

After resting for two days, everyone got on the plane to Kiev, Ukraine, and turned south.

Ukraine is the second largest country in Europe, second only to Russia in terms of land area in Europe, but has a population of less than 50 million, including more than 100 ethnic groups.

Since the Communist Party of the Soviet Union made serious mistakes in the decades since its establishment, the construction of democracy and the rule of law was weak. People's freedom is suppressed, and ethnic conflicts are a serious concern.

Especially in 1986, the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine, the Soviet Union, suffered a serious core meltdown and radiation leakage, which caused serious consequences. But at the beginning, the Soviet Union concealed the truth of the incident from the world and its own people. After being exposed by foreign media and nuclear radiation testing departments, the Soviet Union's bureaucratic consciousness was widely criticized.

After Gorbachev came to power in the Soviet Union, various contradictions accumulated in history and reality began to surface, and nationalism and nationalist tendencies quickly emerged. The political situation across the country began to be turbulent, and at the same time, Ukraine began its pace of revolution. In 1991, the Ukrainian government issued a declaration of national independence. It officially announced its separation from the Soviet Union and changed the country's name to Ukraine. In December of the same year, the leaders of Ukraine, Russia, and Belarus signed an agreement in Minsk, announcing that the Soviet Union would no longer exist, and the United States of America was established, and Ukraine's independence was finally completed.

It's just that the economic situation in Ukraine is exactly the same as that in Russia. The government is also very unstable, and the lives of the domestic people are very distressed, but there is a different situation, that is, Europe and the United States are more supportive of Ukraine, which probably wants to draw Ukraine into the Western camp and become a Russian A sharp knife in the heart.

What the Americans mean is probably that they want to bring Ukraine into the membership of NATO.

But Russia will certainly not sit back and watch such an extremely unfavorable thing happen to itself, and it is impossible for Ukraine to make such an extremely dangerous decision out of its own considerations. Therefore, foreign aid from Europe and the United States did not come so quickly.

So when Fan Wubing and others got off the plane and came to the urban area, they found that there was a parade on the street, and a group of retired workers were holding placards and shouting slogans on the street. Of course, some of them were wearing Soviet Union clothes. Veterans in old-fashioned military uniforms, and some old Red Army who participated in the Great Patriotic War, with various medals on their chests.

"After decades of hard work, it's really bad for these people to return to the pre-liberation overnight!" A staff member of the embassy beside Fan Wubing sighed.

"Then what can I do? Anyway, I made my own choice when I wanted to make a riot. I also chose to take the capitalist road. Now that it's wrong, I regret it, and it's too late. Everyone has to pay for their own choice." It's a price." Fan Wubing said naturally after taking a sip of shochu in a stainless steel bottle.

"What do the common people know, aren't they being led by the nose by politicians?" The staff member said disapprovingly.

Fan Wubing nodded his head, thinking that these words are reliable.

"How is the life of your embassy staff? Is there any guarantee?" Fan Wubing asked casually.

"It's okay. Anyway, the domestic situation is not very good. We can do well here. It's just that the prices in Ukraine are too high. Especially consumables such as vegetables." The staff replied.

"Actually, you can get some daily necessities from China. Then you can directly replace them with consumables, which is very cost-effective." Fan Wubing suggested.

"This, doesn't seem appropriate? After all, we are state employees." The man said a little uncertainly.

"Just adapt, the stomach is your own." Fan Wubing said.

The Soviet Union was implementing a highly centralized planned economy at that time. As the most important energy and mineral base in the former Soviet Union, Ukraine was naturally a region well-developed by military enterprises. With the end of the Cold War and the disintegration of the Soviet Union, the original production links and The failure of the industrial production system has caused the Ukrainian economy to fall into chaos, and the political transition period has also aggravated the economic crisis in Ukraine.

Due to the lack of technical and financial guarantees and product markets, most Ukrainian military enterprises have poor returns. Coupled with the loss of scientific and technological personnel in the defense industry, the Ukrainian military industry is facing many difficulties. As for the update of weapons and equipment, Ukraine's current funds can only maintain the existing old equipment, and even daily training is difficult to meet. The serious shortage of funds has become the biggest obstacle to the revitalization of Ukraine's defense industry.

After the disintegration of the Soviet Union, Ukraine inherited a large number of troops, advanced weapons and equipment and strategic reserves of the former Soviet Army, including 700,000 active soldiers, more than 6,000 tanks, more than 7,000 armored vehicles, 1,500 aircraft, three One hundred and fifty warships, 1,200 intercontinental missile nuclear warheads, and 2,500 tactical nuclear weapons. Both Russia and the Americans feel that the huge military strength should not be underestimated.

For this reason, the Ukrainian government, which has experienced the suffering of war, established denuclearization and disarmament as the keynote of future work from the very beginning, announced the pursuit of a non-nuclear, neutral, and non-aligned policy, and began large-scale disarmament.

At the same time, military enterprises in Ukraine have also accelerated the pace of military-to-civilian transformation, transferring the production potential of the military industry sector in the defense industry and machine manufacturing industry to civilian products and technological transformation.

During this process, many technical talents and old workers in military enterprises are facing unemployment and life crisis, so these people can account for more than half of the parades on the street.

The convoy of Fan Wubing and others was forced to stop many times on the street, waiting for the long parade to pass by. Some even knocked on their car windows and stretched out their hands to beg for cash and food.

"The evil consequences brought about by the rapid privatization—" Fan Wubing couldn't help but say something.

In fact, after the disintegration of the Soviet Union, Ukraine left a large amount of weapons and military supplies, with a total value of hundreds of billions of dollars. Since 1991, Ukraine's foreign arms exports have been booming. For example, many weapons used in the Middle East and Africa battlefields have been lost from Ukraine. It is said that several nuclear warheads are still missing.

It stands to reason that Ukraine would not be too poor if it just sold a few weapons, especially since it is a resource-rich country with abundant reserves of coal, iron, natural gas and oil, so it will not starve.

But the main reason is that these resources are basically monopolized by the oligarchs. After several twists and turns, they have been turned into private property, and most of the exports of weapons are mainly through reselling on the black market. In the international arms market Although it was very active at one time, the proceeds will definitely not be nationalized, so the lives of ordinary people in the country are still a mess.

The Ukrainian side is also very enthusiastic about this old man tour group from China, but they are obviously not as serious as the Russian side. The officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs came to deal with it, but the person in charge of the Ministry of Commerce heard about the big money of the tour group in Russia, and was very enthusiastic about it, and wanted to make a few deals, so as to get some benefits for his own ministry. After all, many Chinese products are very popular in Ukraine.

Therefore, when Fan Wubing and others settled down, the people from the Ministry of Commerce came to the door first, probably because they had exchanged information with the Russian side. As soon as their people came, they found Fan Wubing.

"Hello, Mr. Fan, I am Kashkov, Assistant Minister of the Ministry of Commerce of Ukraine." It was a tall Ukrainian who spoke Chinese.

"Assistant Kashkov speaks Chinese very fluently!" Fan Wubing praised with a smile.

"I have a quarter of Chinese blood." Kashkov replied. "Assistant Kashkov came to visit, probably because he has something to say?" Fan Wubing asked straight to the point.

Kashkov immediately replied, "I like straightforward Chinese people. I'm here to discuss a business."

Fan Wubing was stunned for a moment when he heard this. He brought so many people to Ukraine just to poach the wall, but who knew that people from the Ukrainian Ministry of Commerce also came to do business with him. How should we say this?

"I'm a businessman, but I don't know what kind of business Assistant Kashkov wants to talk to me about? Mineral resources and oil, although I'm more interested, but transportation is a problem! As for nuclear warheads, you It's useless to sell it to me?" Fan Wubing said haha.

"I know that Mr. Fan is a capable person. Are you interested in the plane's motive?" Kashkov asked Fan Wubing mysteriously in a low voice.

Aircraft motive? ! Fan Wubing was stunned for a moment, he was thinking in his heart, I came here to steal people and equipment, and I just wanted to engage in precision processing technology or something, who knew that the Ukrainians were so enthusiastic, and they were motivated by airplanes when they came up. , And it's a government employee who is negotiating business with himself!

God! No wonder Ukraine's nuclear warheads can be lost, it's not surprising at all!