Russia by Donna Welles

           The Chechens are counting on Russia’s current economic downturn to distract them from autonomous moves made by Chechnya’s president- Ramzan Kadyrov.

          Recently there were 7 ‘Honor Killings’ in Chechnya. Honor Killings usually take place very privately so as to not further shame the family to which the women belong. However, these were so public that they were reported in the Russian news. Also, victims of Honor Killings are not usually afforded the same burial rights as others in the community. These women were buried in their family plots. It is not clear why these women were targeted, two of whom have children, but I have read one guess that they worked at a brothel Kadyrov’s men frequent.

          Personally, I don’t like the fact that this tyrannical theocrat is infringing upon the rights of Russian citizens. He is urging men to take multiple wives although polygamy is illegal in Russia. Women are being pressured into wearing headscarves. I find it highly unlikely that Russia will respond to these atrocities. Remember, containing Chechen aggression was Putin’s ONLY campaign platform in 2000. I guess the Russian government is content with containment as opposed to dealing with jurisdictional infringement.

          One wonders whether or not Prime Minister President Putin can maintain his high approval ratings in the midst of Russia’s current state of affairs. In an annual question and answer session between Putin and the Russian people last Thursday, Putin said that Russia would weather the current global economic crisis with “minimal losses”. He also extended an olive branch to President-Elect Obama, praised NATO for not setting a time table for their induction of Georgia and Ukraine, and spoke out against Ukraine- presumably for their pro-Western foreign policies. Putin started these sessions while he was president and he’s continued to conduct them under his new role as Prime Minister. Of course President Medvedev conducts no similar session.
          Putin faced questions about rising inflation, housing problems, and job losses. Russians have been buying dollars in place of rubles for fear of another ecomonmic crisis like that of 1998. Putin plans to use gold and foreign exchange reserves to ensure there will be no such dramatic inflation.
          Russia is a petro state, that’s how it makes the vast majority of its money. It has no high-tech industry that can support its import-export ratio. But the need for gas in the past decade has landed the country amidst an economic boom. The only complex man-made products Russia exports are weapons. In any recession, the demand for oil and other natural resources drops. Putin’s first question via telephone was from a man who lost his job along with others in his town. When asked how the man could survive without a job, Putin assured him that Russia would increase state-assistance for unemployment. If I were that man I wouldn’t be all that comforted by Putin’s words, ‘democratic’ Russia doesn’t do a very good job of providing its people with social services.
          Putin pointed to signs that an Obama presidency would reconsider the deployment of an anti-missile system in Eastern Europe. He said, “We hear that one should build relations with Russia, taking into account its interests. If these are not just words, if they get transformed into a practical policy, then of course our reaction will be appropriate and our American partners will feel this at once.”
          Regarding Ukraine, there was no such olive branch. Putin accused them of siphoning off Russia’s oil on the way to its Western European destination. Putin dismissed any concessions to Kiev on gas prices, saying they already pay much less than other European countries. “If our partners do not follow agreements or illegally siphon off our gas from transit pipelines as they did in previous years, then we will be forced to cut deliveries. What else can we do?”, he said.

     So I was on my way back from western Europe to St. Petersburg, Russia and I had decided to fly in to Helsinki, Finland and then take a bus back home. I found out later that I had bronchitis but all I knew at the time was that I was very very sick. It was March so it was absolutely freezing outside and there was ice everywhere. I got to the Helsinki airport around midnight and I tried to get a ride to the bus station. I had planned to just spend the night in the airport and then get a ride in the morning but I was just too sick to do that- I figured it was worth it to rent a room. I got on a bus at around 2 am that went to the train station because I decided that I was so sick it was worth it to take the more comfortable, faster train. I checked into a hotel across the street and slept until the sun rose. Mind you, it’s normally a very stupid move to leave Finland and go TO Russia when one is so sick, but I knew I had antibiotics at home so I figured that was the better move. My fever was so high that I thought I was going to pass out.

          Someone told me that one could take the Finnish train instead of the Russian train for $40 more and that it was worth it because the Finnish trains were so much nicer. I did not want to deal with a Russian train that day. Riding Russian trains is an adventure in and of itself, you’ve got to be on your guard the whole time. Also, every other country I’d been in let riders board the train and sit down before their tickets were checked. With Russian trains, everyone stands outside in a line forever until a devilishly reluctant usher comes to the door and slowly picks through each person’s documents. Also, I’ll talk about my train trip across Russia when they ran out of food but not beer you so have 100 drunk, hungry, belligerent, bored Russians. Two fights broke out on that trip. I just didn’t want to deal with that so I bought the Finnish train ticket.

          I had about 6 hours to wait until my train left so I asked the hotel if I could check out late because I was so sick. They of course said no so I packed up and went across the street to the station. I found a bench in the corner of the station and I lied down to take a nap with my foot propped on my suitcase and my arms clenching my purse. Probably 15 minutes passed before a cop came up to me and told me that I wouldn’t lie down while I was there. That’s the first time I’d ever been told that in any country.

          I had to find some comfortable place to sit and wait because I was just so so sick. I figured some tea would help so I went to the cafeteria. I ordered my tea and it was brought to me. I sipped it for a while and then a leaned back, crossed my legs, and rested the side of my knee on the table- anything I could do to make myself a little more comfortable. Upon seeing this, the waiter came up to me and told me, “In Finland we sit properly.” At this point I was almost crying as I asked him to please let me just lean back in my seat to take a nap. He looked at me and told me that it was policy that nobody could sleep in the station anywhere. Maybe that was trashy to even try, but again, I was so sick. So I sat and the hours passed and finally, it was time to board.

          I walked out onto the platform with my suitcase, passport, and Finnish train ticket and in an instant, my relief upon the idea of finally being able to relax turned into absolute horror when I saw that it was instead a Russian train pulling up to the station. I had been duped. I knew my journey was far from over and I had the feeling that things were about to get interesting. I waited in line for probably 25 minutes in the ice storm while our tickets were checked and were allowed to board.

          This is where things went south. I found my cabin and standing outside of it was an old woman waiting for people to come so she could arrange her things. She took one look at me and asked if I was sick. Russians can be deeply compassionate people so I thought that she asked so she could help me in some way. I told her that I was indeed sick and she instantly replied in Russian, “Well you’re not staying in my cabin.” She started yelling at me to go ask the usher if I could be moved. I told her that I wasn’t going to go ask but she could if she wanted. So she found the usher and he assured her that after the train disembarked, I would be dealt with. I stood outside the cabin door, my suitcase leaned against me, and waited for him to come back so I could move. He promptly appeared and escorted me into a cabin with two young women. The same thing happened and once again, the usher was summoned. I again waited in the hall until he decided on my final resting place.   They decided to put me in the cabin with the other ‘trouble maker’, Anton. I learned that Anton had lost his passport so he had to spend a week at the border crossing waiting for a new one after visiting Finland. I leaned over and fell asleep. The border crossing came. We pulled into the Finnish disembarkation stop and we were inspected without incident.

          Then came the Russian checkpoint. The Russians saw my US passport and were immediately suspicious. They simply could not accept that I would be riding a train when I was sick as I was unless I had some ominous agenda. So they tore my bags apart looking for who knows what. They did the same thing to Anton. Then the customs agent took my passport and walked off with it. When he brought it back it was missing this little white paper they give you when you enter into the country. I knew that one has to have that little sheet of paper when you leave or you have to pay a ‘fine’ оr штраф. So I I looked up and down the train for this guy so I could get my little piece of white paper. I know he did that on purpose. That’s his whole job is to handle people coming into the country. I found him and got the paper.

          The train pulled into the only station in St. Petersburg where there is no traffic so it took me forever to walk up and down the street to flag anyone down. Nobody uses real taxis in Russia. You just hitchhike to where you want to go. It wasn’t until I got back home to Texas that I realized that was dangerous. But I finally found one about 10:30 pm and we drove to the apartment where I lived with a Russian family. I dragged my bags up the stairs, opened the door, saw the wife and daughter and said only, “ я болна” or “I’m sick” The dragged me inside took off my clothes, dressed me, told me to lie down and then stuck a thermometer in my mouth. They house-arrested me for a week.

Morals to the story:

1) I’m never going back to Finland. Big deal their country is so clean and beautiful. It’s too expensive, there’s nothing to do there, and I learned from this trip how they treat foreigners.

2) Don’t buy the Finnish train ticket because you’ll get a Russian train just like I did.