Sputnik Adventures

Hey Sputniki, welcome back. Got a few minutes before I hop on the train from Volgograd to Ufa, Bashkortostan’s capital, so I’ll continue to hack away at the blog backlog.

So, the police (I never quite grasped what flavor of gendarme they were; Russia’s got umpteen different types) ask me to their office, a dusty kiosk at the corner of the train station square. Again, this validates them as legitimate officers, but then the fun starts. ‘Where are you heading to?’ ‘I don’t know yet; I’m on vacation.’ ‘Do you have any medicines, weapons, narcotics, or contraband in your possession?’ ‘Of course not.’ ‘Will you permit a search?’ Now we were getting down to brass tacks. I would not permit a search of my person; it is my right as a foreign citizen to ask that such searches be conducted at police headquarters, and this I did. This seemed to amuse the officers, and a funny (a ha-ha funny, thank God) kind of silence followed for a few seconds. A torrent of Russian followed, which causes my understanding levels to plummet. I respond with a torrent of English, which had the same effect on them, although doubtless they understood the key words American citizen’ and ‘consulate’. After we all reach a sane level, they say, ‘Look, can we just have a look in your backpack?’ I give in and open everything up. Inside is the usual assortment of travel junk. My name was duly logged in their ledger, and I was turned loose.

The whole incident would barely be worth mentioning but for a curious epilogue. I went back to the train station and asked a ticket agent about the next day’s train to Ufa. As soon as the question was out of my mouth the agent took a quick look at me, excused herself from her desk, and left the office, delivering a piece of paper to a presumed plain-clothes man who was talking with my two officers in the main hall. Coincidence? We’ll find out when/if I catch my train this morning to Ufa. Stay tuned.

Sputnik Lee

Tags: Crimea, Russia, Tarricone, Travel, Ukraine

This entry was posted on Monday, August 22nd, 2005 at 12:48 am and is filed under Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.