Police State

I have never realized how few police we have in the USA until I got here to Russia, and they are everywhere. I mean, you can't turn around without seeing another cop or someone in fatigues. I guess it wouldnt bother me so much if I had a much better command of the language, but the idea of being stopped by the police and questioned just does not appeal to me. It does not help that people tell me a lot that the Russian police are corrupt, and if you want to get out of something, you have to pay them money. I have not seen this yet, but even the Russians I know tell me this.

So you are probably wondering why this post occurred at this instance. Well, today is the last day of Butter Week, or "empty of meat" as the translation goes. This is a pagan celebration for the coming of spring, the lengthening of days, and under the Orthodox church, the week previous to the 7 weeks of Lent. It means, lots of celebrating, lots of drinking, and today is Forgiveness day, where you ask everyone for forgiveness. I think its a great idea! Anyway, after a tour of the Contemporary History Museum, I decided to go to Red Square to check everything out. There were police everywhere. I mean EVERYWHERE! There were police cars, officers, mounted patrols, military squads (maybe Military Police). While none of them were obviously armed, there were police vans and trucks near by, so it is safe to assume that their weapons were not far from hand should the need arise. While it seems like an exorbident amount of police, I suppose I should think about it in terms of being on Pennsylvania Ave in DC for a huge festival. I suppose the level of police would be similar. Here is where it gets different, though.

It was about 2 weeks ago, and I was leaving the subway to go to my classes at RGGU, and as I came off the escalator, there were two cops standing off to the side. I had to take a second look, as one of the men had a small Kalashnikov rifle slung over his sholder and his arms crossed on top of it. That day, I noticed that most of the police that I saw were armed with more than their usual baton. I don't know if there was a terrorist threat warning or something, but it was a little unnerving, as I am not used to seeing assault rifles being shown in the open like that. Whatever the case, it just goes to show some of the differences that I have noticed while I have been here in Moscow.

****A note on the St. Basil's photo (top): we were not allowed to be any closer that I took the picture from, but if you look at the railing around the cathedral, those are all police near the cathedral!!