Beware of Police (Russian police, bribes and corruption) - Russian Ukrainian Belarus Travel Music Woman Dating News

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Beware of Police (Russian police, bribes and corruption)
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Posted by: golek

On my last trip to Moscow last May, I had an experience that I would like to share.

I was in Moscow, walking along a busy street near the Kremlin. My fiancee was at work, so I was alone. There were a lot of people on the sidewalk around me and the crowd I was in approached a minor intersection. The crowd stopped and then en masse started crossing the lane. I followed. At the other side a policeman approached me and pulled me aside. He spoke no english, but pointed to a crossing light and told me it was red when I crossed. He asked for my papers and I gave them to him. My Russian is very limited and I told him so. He called his colleague over who spoke English. This English speaking officer told me in English that I crossed on red while he flipped through my passport. He kept asking questions like, "why do you disrespect the laws of Russia?" in spite of the fact that I was being extremely polite and apologetic the entire time. Then he told me that my papers were not in order (they were) and told me I must go to the police station. I knew he just wanted money so I asked him what the fine was. His reply was to ask what I could afford to pay! I told him 300 rubles and he said the fine for this "serious" crime was 500 rubles. I gave him the 500 rubles and he let me go. For the next couple of hours, I experienced that uncomfortable feeling you get after you've been robbed.

These guys knew what they were doing, especially the english-speaking guy. They get paid a miserable wage and so feel entitled to muscle western tourists into giving them money.

Now in hindsight, I realize that I might have saved a lot of stress and a little money if I hadn't been passed to the english-speaking cop, who was a pro. My theory is that at the point when the first officer stopped me and pointed to the light, what I should have done was ask, "skolko?" (how much) and pull one or two hundred ruble notes out of my pocket (not my wallet where all my other cash is). I really believe that he'd have probably taken a hundred, pocketed it himself, and let me go.

For the rest of the trip, I took some precautions and never had another problem:

1. Went with my fiancee to a street market and bought an inexpensive light coat like Russians wear. A Russian style hat would be good as well. No, not the fur kind they sell to tourists. Just something simple. Look around and see what others are wearing. Absolutely avoid wearing obvious western clothes like athletic shoes and sweatshirts with your favorite football or baseball team's logo on it! To walk around like this it like wearing a big sign that says, "I am a very rich American. Please take my money!"

2. Always paid close attention to traffic lights when I was in the center.

3. Always carried several hundred ruble notes in my front pocket to pay fines if I was stopped. If all you have is a 500 or 1000 ruble note, the fine will probably be 500 or 1000. They don't have change!

Good luck everyone and be careful. But not paranoid, please.

Posted by: dhutche1

I had been told to try to blend in as much as you can while I was in Ukraine for the same reason

you dont want anything to do with the police. I will have to say that I saw lots of police but never had any issues but I was also with my fiancee almost 99% of the time. She had told me if we where to get pulled over by police to act like a mute Russian

It would be interesting to see if anyone else out there has had any issues with the police and can offer any advice to avoid issues like this..... I will give you an odd one my fiancee would not let me wear a seat belt while in the car she said this is a sure sign that your are a tourist and it would cost us money if the police saw us

So as much as I did not like it I did not wear it...... I cant imagine any place more that you need you seat belt either

Dave

Posted by: Chris_UK

I don't think this type of encounter with the 'militsia' is uncommon. I was stopped in Moscow too but I guess something the lady I was with at the time said dissuaded them from pressing the issue (of course, everything was in order in my passport too).

I wouldn't let this leave too bad a taste in your mouth, such bribes grease a lot of cogs in Russia, and one day it might actually be to your advantage to be in a position to *offer* a bribe.

As you say, their salary is a quite meagre and, to put it into perspective, 500 roubles in the grand scheme of things on a trip to Moscow is a drop in the ocean for us "rich westerners".

Having said this, it is a good idea to keep a couple of hundred roubles in a different pocket for such situations.

Chris

Posted by: j_c

We were stopped by the police just pass red square as well!

I'm sure the police are trained to sniff out the foreigners!!!

Irina dealt with him , showed him our hotel slips , while I loitered in the background. My passport was at the hotel being registered so they did not get a look at that.

After a conversation with Irina they let us go, however , Irina was upset by the fact she had been stopped ( having been to Moscow several times before and never been stopped before), I explained that I had expected it at least once whilst in Moscow , and they stopped us because of me, not her.

We had not even done anything wrong , I think it was just a routine inspection.

I think it effected Irina more than me , I suppose because i had read about this sort of thing on the internet before travelling to Moscow I was not really that surprised!

But I definatley agree with you guys on the money thing , and I always carried some small notes seperate to the larger ones just in case! ( mainly from the fear of thives not policemen though!)

Regards

John

Posted by: ConnerVT

You may also consider that they also have increased security around Red Square, in response to the bombings and terrorist acts taking place in Russia. Red Square has even been closed to the public for a while (probably not putting a fresh coat of red paint on it.

)

Of course, they aren't on the lookout for American (or British) tourists. But since they're looking anyway, why not pluck a few pigeons while they're at it...

Posted by: Khashyar

Interesting stories and experiences, guys....

Except for riding on the Trans-Siberian railway from Belarus to Mongolia, I was always with Lena, and so I felt safe about things like the police....

I can certainly understand how they expect bribes to supplement their salaries... (although I would feel robbed also if it happened to me)...

When I was in Mogilev and on a Russian river dinner, drinking and dance cruise, I sensed that Lena was a little cautious about the two policemen who were on the boat, althought I wanted to make friends with them right away and struck up a "friendship."

(Lena might deny the fact that she felt a bit uncomfortable, but that was the perception that I had

)

I felt good about joking with these two young-faced policemen, and they offered me vodka on the boat (which I did not accept, because at that point on my trip, I was trying to avoid drinking vodka

)

I suppose that a country's policeman does have a degree of power over a foreigner in their country, and some policemen do take advantage of this power, and the foreign person's vulnerability.

I agree that it would seem pretty safe if we accompany a native Russian speaker during our travels in Russia to avoid being "shaken down" for money.... Although I passed through Russian customs on the train (by myself) a couple of times, and the Russian military police never asked me for money...

Thanks for the interesting thread....

Khashyar