afia In Russia.

To all of you who still believes that Russia is still in the good hands as it was in the good old days, (and the good old days are only five years ago), of the Soviet Union when KGB where still able to control the situation of the criminality.

There are many surprises in store for a foreigner coming to Russia. In order to avoid this, one must know the country, its people and know what to do in a situation when shooting break out nearby - gangs fighting it out for spheres of influence. What should a foreigner do when surrounded by a group of gypsies demanding that you "grease their palm" and they will tell "your fortune," or instead of the cab you order to the hotel, a private car drives up with a shady, unshaven Caucasian at the wheel, with his jacket bulging under the arm, and at night a strange woman stomps into your room, with the only intent of crawling into your bed.

There isn't one newspaper in Moscow which does not describe the criminal situation in the Russian capital, a city which used to be famous for its quit and tranquillity where one could safely walk the streets of Moscow at any time of day or night without fear of coming across a robber, is now noted for its banditism and bursts of gunfire. Neither the police or special anti-crime squads are able to cope with the evil forces creeping out of their hideouts. But an end must come to this.

One can come across hair-raising stories in Moscow newspapers. For example:

One of the headlines reads: "Approximately 10 Persons Cut Down in a Shot-Out." A number of "ganglang leaders" gathered in a Finnish sauna to relax and have a good time. The Police got wind of this. When a number of squad cars had pulled up to the baths, the "ringleader" bodyguards sitting nearby opened fire on the cops. The result - two policemen were seriously injured, three - slightly, one crook was killed, four - injured.

Second headline: "An American Expert Drowned in His own Bathtub." A 35 year-old US citizen, an economics consultant at a Joint Enterprise was drowned in the flat he rented on Trekhprudni Pereylok. Law enforcement officials did not reveal the motives behind the death.

The third headline: "Contaminated Is Being Brought into Moscow". A consignment of ground pork was brought into Moscow from Belgium and was put on the sale in commercial kiosks, (kiosks are under supervision of the Mafia). The cargo of 60 tons was contaminated by salmonella. So you don't have to come across hired killers in the streets of Moscow. Suffice it to buy a packet of meat and you can "kick the bucket."

Fourth headline: "Seven Bodies in One Shoot-Out." This happened at 16 Kazakova Street in Moscow the site of an office and the restaurant "Dagmos." A jeep drove up to the restaurant at midday and the guys coming out of it opened fire on everyone in the office. The tally - a 29 year-old Georgian, the company director, had so many bullet holes it was difficult to count them, nearby were the bodies of three young Daghestanis riddled with bullets, one dead Georgian was lying in the street, and next to him a 37 year-old Muscovite - a passerby, cut down as an unwanted witness. The seventh victim, a Daghestani, one of the first to open fire, died a few hours later in the hospital. The reason for the shoot-out is quite simple. Two Mafia groups, Georgian and Daghestani, could not peacefully divide the restaurant. As this took place in the daytime, foreigners out seeing the historical sites of Moscow could have been caught in this crossfire.

The following headline: "Death Street". The story was about a double killing on Yablochkov Street situated in Maryina Roscha (Grove) - an infamous Moscow district known for its criminal past. A 46 year-old driver at the Russian Foreign Ministry was stabbed to death at six in the morning at the entrance to his home and at 2 p.m. - the manager of a commercial company.

Next to me is a story describing the death of 66 year-old "criminal within the law" (one of the supreme titles in the criminal world) "Gaik Gevorkyan", alias "Goga the Armenian". Then an item of the arrest of Nikolai Mikhailov, a 40 year-old lieutenant colonel of the police forces, Precinct Chief, situated on Arbat street. Senior Police Officer Mikhailov. And so on, down the line.

Yes, Russia, Moscow - its capital, has radically changed from what it used to be, when I came here, only five years ago........5 years. I am not the only one to notice this. J. Woolsey, CIA Director, recently addressing Senate hearings noted that in the world today there were four powerful criminal groupings: Latin American drug syndicates, the Italian Mafia, Chinese "triads" and organized criminal bands in the former USSR. In particular, he noted, that there were 5.700 bands in Russia today.

According to Mr. Woolsey, the criminal bands spend up to 50% of their revenue to bribe officials in the government, the police force and custom service. "It only remains to regret, - noted one of our influential newspapers - that Mr. Woolsey didn't provide at least a complete list of these "shisters" - say, in the form of rendering humanitarian aid. The West could have economized on Billions of dollars on this, which under the sound of trumpets comes into Russia in the form of credits, and then flow into foreign banks on the sly."

Incidentally, we can judge what is happening in Russia by corps of deputies.

Andrei Aizderzis, a state Duma Deputy was fatally shot by rifle at the end of spring, The killer is still at large.

One evening in May, State Duma Deputy Skorochkin found himself involved in the murder of two persons incidentally one of them a citizen of Georgia named Svanidze, whom he killed himself. State Duma Deputy Oleg Morozov was out with a pistol butt when filling his car at a gasoline station. Recently Nikolai Moskovchenko was seriously injured in the entrance to his home. Deputy Leonid Nekrasov has been arrested in Yekatirinburg related to this accident.

In the center of Moscow, five Car Blasts with six dead under the same 10 months period. Four of them were top executive from Russian banks refusing to pay "protect fee" to the Mafia. One were a casino owner also refusing. During these car blasts 10 innocent people were badly injured.

And so on... If this is happening with the Senators and Congressmen, you can imagine what is happening to the ordinary laymen.

We, foreigners coming to Russia, to perform our work and duties or just as a tourist, are highly alarmed. I must note in addition to the Mafia shoot-outs the wars in Abkhasia, Nagorny Karabakh or Tadjikistan. We can not keep mum about this as if nothing is happening. Foreigners are right in questioning how can a state, permitting crimes against lawmakers, can protect them, guests in Russia. Can they protect the very citizen of Russia?

I can quote some sad statistics. Crime against FOREIGNERS.
In the last 10 months 1993, 1,420 crimes were perpetrated against foreigners in the center of MOSCOW, and the statistics this year is up 30% but is not yet official. Of them 560 were serious. According to the main Board of the Moscow Interior Ministry, the most to suffer were citizens of Vietnam and China. 264 criminal acts were committed against them. They are followed by Germany - 105 crimes, USA - 66 crimes, Great Britain - 38.

The most common crime against foreigners is robbery - 668 cases in a "10 months period". Premeditated murder -16, grave bodily crimes -14, rape -3, robbery with violence -272, extortion -5.

In 1989 there where 0 kidnappings of foreigners in the center of Moscow, 1990-10, 1991-150, 1992-360, 1993-1.500, 1994 up to August 3.800.

This is a brief summary of the situation in Moscow today. (October 1994)