Ukraine sacks all traffic police

They are the scourge of motorists across the former Soviet Union, known for accusing drivers of fictitious crimes and demanding a bribe to clear them. But now Ukraine has sacked all of its 23,000 traffic police. The president, Viktor Yushchenko, said they had "discredited themselves" and would cease to exist.



In the most sweeping anti-corruption gesture of his six-month presidency, Mr Yushchenko said yesterday that repeated orders to the traffic police to clean up their act had gone unheeded.