A very short entry today as I have spent the day filming with the BBC talking drug and human trafficking, smuggling and counterfeit goods in Odessa - naturally I will eagerly await my BAFTA nomination!
So having spent the day talking trafficking routes in and out of Odessa and more broadly Ukraine - and basically stating the obvious, in that serious and organised crime will always choose the route of least resistance - and Ukraine is probably not as robust as the EU States when it comes to preventing entry or egress of illicit “goods” on the European continent, it is perhaps good timing that today, an announcement of the opening of Odessa Port’s new terminal will be in Autumn 2013 - an absolutely necessary economic infrastructure addition in respect of legitimate trade - but also another point of weakness in a somewhat porous and very large international land and sea Odessa border.
With such a large international land and sea border, how can Odessa be anything other than porous and a route of least resistance for serious and organised crime?