 | Moscow Local police & Documents Reviews | Tips 1 - 10 of 50 |  |
Before we went to Moscow, I read all sorts of warnings about dodgy police in Red Square…. How they would ask to see your passports and then not give them back unless you paid them and things like that.
So, imagine my concern when one evening, whilst we were taking some photos of the Kremlin in Red Square, Alex was approached by 2 police officers or possibly Kremlin guards.
They were unhappy that he was taking photos using a tripod (????) and wanted to see his passport. Although I actually had our passports hidden in my money-belt, Alex told them that his passport was back at our hotel, pointing to our hotel, which was just across from Red Square.
They were not happy, but I showed them the card that the hotel had given us showing our name and that we were staying there…and thankfully they were happy with that. They just yelled a bit, saying that we could not use a tripod and then walked off.
Phew! Leave a Comment
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but the only encounter we had with a policeman was when one came up to us at the concert in Red Square to celebrate the WW2 60th anniversary and asked us if we would like to go and sit down the front instead of standing!
I'm not saying people don't get hassled, and it really is necessary to have your passport or a copy of it on you at all times as well as your entry documents, and to be aware of how to deal with the situation if you do get stopped, but don't think it happens to everyone. I have no doubt that young travellers probably get stopped more than older visitors but times are changing in Russia and advice that is out of date could make you worry unecessarily. Leave a Comment
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We were walking around when one of our group dropped a cigarette on the ground. One has to remember that Russians smoke all the time, everywhere, and cigarette butts are pretty common. We must have been observed by the local police because some of us were speaking English. One of our Russian friends was accosted by some cop who looked to be about 20 years old. He threatened to drag her to the police department unless she paid him $30 US. From what I heard this is pretty common and illegal even there. For an adventure I'd let them take me and then contact the American consulate, or if that's not your cup of tea, be careful not to break any real or imaginary laws. Leave a Comment
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People who privately sell and swap airline tickets -- like the person who helped two suspected suicide bombers board the planes that crashed almost simultaneously last month -- are still out in full force in airports, and a bribe of as little as 500 rubles ($17) can get anybody on board a domestic flight, according to aviation officials and media reports.
According to the papers here is what was said. "Everybody knows them and everybody loves them, including the police, because they bring in extra profits," an airline official said. "These are mostly former airport employees -- baggage handlers or porters. They know everyone in the airport."
Summing up preliminary results to the crash investigation, Prosecutor General said Wednesday that the airport employee charged the women a total of 5,000 rubles for his services.
He stepped in after the women were detained by airport police upon their arrival from Dagestan. A police officer released them without a check.
The women were apparently unnerved by the police stop and wanted to get on outbound flights as quickly as possible.
The woman calling had missed a Sibir flight to Volgograd and was hysterical, according to Kommersant. The same employee swapped her ticket for one on the Volga-Aviaexpress Tu-134.
The other woman was supposed to fly to Sochi on a larger Sibir Il-86 the next morning. But two minutes before check-in closed for Sibir Flight 1047 to Sochi, the airline employee gave her ticket and 1,000 rubles ($34) to a Sibir official overseeing check-in and boarding.
And, the rest is history as we say. After numerous errors and mistakes, the two black widows boarded their respective flights, blew themselves and everyone on board up, and there were no survivors. Leave a Comment
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...the police lie when they report crimes, and so no one knows what the true crime statistics are.
Police fairytales differ sharply from the reality on the streets. For instance, this week city police reported that the number of street robberies fell by 35 percent compared to 2002.
There has been anecdotal evidence of the police ignoring rape cases because they "do not want to make the city look bad." Foreign businessmen, diplomats and tourists, complaining that police on patrol steal their money while checking their documents. They have learned to cross the road when they see a police patrol coming.
They are not happy that in some city districts "the number of arrests made in drug cases has dropped by almost 25 percent." Knowing how careful the police are about their statistics, and being familiar with stories of how law enforcers fabricate crimes by planting drugs in people's pockets during a routine check of documents. .
From reading the Moscow Times and doing a quick tally and, as you can read yourself, two things become quite evident. One there is a lot of crime in Moscow. And second, only a small fraction of crimes are every solved. So don't let it spoil your visit, but be careful. Leave a Comment Other Contact: www.themoscowtimes.com
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I'm sure countless people have already stressed this fact, but always make sure you carry your passport with you wherever you go in Moscow as the local militia (police) are prone to doing spot checks especially in Metro stations! Don't be offended as this also applies to Russian citizens.
Something else to look out for is where & who you take photo's of! Having lived in a regime that was largely closed to the prying eyes of the world, Russian's can be camera shy & in the case of the militia - especially in the Kremlin near the Presidential Palace - threatening. They may confiscate your film if you take a picture of something you're not supposed to. If in doubt - ask someone if it's possible to take a picture - "eta vazmozhna chto'i fotografirovat pazhal'sta" or even "mozhna s'fotografirovat pazhal'sta". Basically translates as "may I take a photo please". Leave a Comment
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As soon as you arrive at the international aeroport in Moscow you are shown a great example of russian burocracy: we needed 2 hours to pass the passport control(another example will be the Lenin mausoleum).Actually I was surprised but, I thought it can happen, may be that more than one flight arrived at the same time.The best was when I got back to the airport to leave Moscow, so there was no visa to control and so on and, anyway a queu of 1 hour was there to wait for me, 1 hour of queu just to check who was leaving the country as there was no lagguage nor metal detector control at that point.So, in Moscow you really need to be at the airport 3 hours in advance if you want to be sure to take your flight, at least if you are leaving from airport Sheremetevo 2. Leave a Comment
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All foreigners must have their visas registered within three days of arrival. If you don't look like 'guy whitie,' or are carrying big bags and are wearing a t-shirt that says 'kiss me, I'm a tourist,' there's a good chance that the cops will stop you and ask for documents. They love to do this around Red Square and at the train stations, but they also do it on the subways. Choice targets for random document checks are people from the Caucasus - Georgians, Armenians, Ossetians, and of course, Dagestanis and Chechens. Because the city is a magnet for whores from poor parts of Russia, attractive women walking alone late at night are almost always hit up for a bribe - people in Russia carry an internal passport (sometimes in addition to Russia's 'foreign' passport) that has to be stamped and in the case of these girls usually isn't. People from the Caucasus people look like Jews or Italians, so if you're Jewish or Italian looking, the cops will target you. Have your hotel stamp your visa or you'll get stuck paying a bribe - try to shoot for 100 or 200 rubles (3-7 dollars.) If you're staying with friends, get your visa stamped at the Hotel Asia - they'll do it for 10 dollars for up to 3 months and don't require you to stay there. Again, the whole system is a scam so pretend you know the drill. Leave a Comment
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Apparently it is law in Russia to carry your identification (passport, visa and hotel registration) with you at all times. We did not get stopped in our 4 days in Moscow but we did see uniformed men checking other people's documents.
It seemed to me that the people we saw being checked were all younger men, casually dressed, with darker complexions. Leave a Comment
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Carry your passport with you at all times the Russian's carry a passport (it has all their lifes info. on it) for traveling around inside Russian and they have a second one for traveling outside their country. We kept a copy of all documents (birth certi. visas service we used, drivers lic. ss card) and passport pages with us also we used a money belt and put everything in a zip lock bag to keep it from getting sweaty! They also like things with notary stamps on it so have your copies notary stamped they love stamping papers themselves! Just about any bank in America has a notary and explain to them why you need all your copies stamped they're just notorizing your signature, sign your copies at the bottom of the paper and have them stamp your signature! Also we forgot to take our airline's international phone number with us we had to go up online and find the airlines web page and then get the Russia phone number, we was coming home a few days earlier than our return flight was. Thank God we could get up online if not we would have not been able to get their phone so easy. Also we took U.S.embassy for Russia and everyones phone, address and email addresses that was back in the states all on one piece of paper, it was very handy and we made copies and carried them with us at all times and put an extra copy in our luggage. Also leave in an email to a few different people all your info. about your trip and where you will be leaving copies of your passport papers and visa info. with in the U.S. Traveling nowadays is not the safest. The train we traveled on was blown off it's tracks three days before we road on it. You need to have someone in the U.S. know ALL your info. and that can stay calm and think clear in an emergancy for you! They may be your life line in getting you found if you get lost or? or get you out of the country in an emergancy! Leave a Comment
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