KipPotapych
Active Member
To add, in regards to the Moscow market:
I haven’t been to Russia in a long time. The last time was about… over 15 years ago. I have no idea how things have changed since (if at all?) in terms of what police is outfitted with. Prior and during my last visit, a normal police street patrol usually consisted of three people: one would be an officer armed with a sidearm, the two others usually had a completely different uniform and were equipped with batons and no firearms. Some officers had a baton as well, in addition to a handgun, if I recall correctly. That was a normal “team” patrolling the streets and populated places. Both, officers and the other dudes, looked like a joke in terms of equipment compared to any cop you would meet on the street in Canada today. For instance, there was no personal protection equipment at all.
Even at the airport (Domodedovo was the one where we landed), I haven’t seen any presence of “we mean business” police either - mostly the street officer type with a sidearm in groups of 2 or 3 (no baton dudes). The airport itself, by the way, was a joke. I believe they were expanding at the time and I am sure that was the reason. There was one currency exchange in our terminal and it was automated. Conveniently, it was also out of order, lol. None of the stores accepted anything but rubles, except for duty free shops that did not sell water or any non-alcoholic beverages. All water fountains were also out of order (just installed?). Walking by a what looked like a “news stand”, I asked the sales woman where I could buy some water. Her response was “In a store”. Lol. That will probably stick with me forever, the words, the tone, etc. I still remember it as if it happened yesterday. My reply was “Thanks”. I then approached one of the cops (there were two of them walking by) and asked where I can get some water. He suggested I could drink from one of the taps in the washroom, but he personally wouldn’t recommend doing so. Funny enough, he said it in the most polite way possible, seriously. I replied that even if he did recommend it, I wouldn’t do so. He laughed. I have no idea why, but I remember being really thirsty. We found a shop that accepted USD before we got out and bought a couple of cans of Sprite for $3 a piece (they didn’t have water). Up until today, those were the most expensive cans of pop I have ever purchased. It’s funny that I have these memories from the airport upon arrival.
Anyway, that was a bit of derailing, which, I guess, still fits into the general Russian discussion. And I thought it would be fun to share.
I haven’t been to Russia in a long time. The last time was about… over 15 years ago. I have no idea how things have changed since (if at all?) in terms of what police is outfitted with. Prior and during my last visit, a normal police street patrol usually consisted of three people: one would be an officer armed with a sidearm, the two others usually had a completely different uniform and were equipped with batons and no firearms. Some officers had a baton as well, in addition to a handgun, if I recall correctly. That was a normal “team” patrolling the streets and populated places. Both, officers and the other dudes, looked like a joke in terms of equipment compared to any cop you would meet on the street in Canada today. For instance, there was no personal protection equipment at all.
Even at the airport (Domodedovo was the one where we landed), I haven’t seen any presence of “we mean business” police either - mostly the street officer type with a sidearm in groups of 2 or 3 (no baton dudes). The airport itself, by the way, was a joke. I believe they were expanding at the time and I am sure that was the reason. There was one currency exchange in our terminal and it was automated. Conveniently, it was also out of order, lol. None of the stores accepted anything but rubles, except for duty free shops that did not sell water or any non-alcoholic beverages. All water fountains were also out of order (just installed?). Walking by a what looked like a “news stand”, I asked the sales woman where I could buy some water. Her response was “In a store”. Lol. That will probably stick with me forever, the words, the tone, etc. I still remember it as if it happened yesterday. My reply was “Thanks”. I then approached one of the cops (there were two of them walking by) and asked where I can get some water. He suggested I could drink from one of the taps in the washroom, but he personally wouldn’t recommend doing so. Funny enough, he said it in the most polite way possible, seriously. I replied that even if he did recommend it, I wouldn’t do so. He laughed. I have no idea why, but I remember being really thirsty. We found a shop that accepted USD before we got out and bought a couple of cans of Sprite for $3 a piece (they didn’t have water). Up until today, those were the most expensive cans of pop I have ever purchased. It’s funny that I have these memories from the airport upon arrival.
Anyway, that was a bit of derailing, which, I guess, still fits into the general Russian discussion. And I thought it would be fun to share.
