Wild KievI was in a restaurant for lunch last week, in Kiev, when a fleet of black SUVs raced up right to the front door, out popped a dozen machine gun toting thugs, some of whom barged into the restaurant to check the place out, with the rest taking up positions around the restaurant.After this initial dance was finished, a gentleman in mid-50s, head shaved, blue suit, dark sunglasses, stepped out of one of the vans, followed by a most lovely lady, I would say about in her mid-20s.Together they entered the restaurant for lunch. The waiters could not have been more deferential. We decided to leave without dessert.Such gun-toting precautions are part of the high stakes of oligarch life in Ukraine. Earlier this month, one of the lads and his catwalk superstar companion were blown to bits as their armored limo passed over a land mine planted at an intersection in the center of Kiev.