In the late 1990s, Ukraine was rocked by a scandal straight out of a spy thriller — except the spy gear was a cassette recorder hidden under the president’s couch. In this Dad Tangent, we dive into Kuchmagate, when secret tapes allegedly captured President Leonid Kuchma discussing shady deals, media crackdowns, and even a journalist’s murder.

It’s Ukraine’s own Watergate, only with worse sound quality and more cassette hiss. Discover how a bodyguard with a tape deck helped light the fuse that would later explode into the Orange Revolution.

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