General Interest > Open Free for All

Has anyone spent anytime in Russia?

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Che Gookin:
Luckily for me I have a nice nut set aside in my international dollar account to tide me over if I feel the need to bail out of Russia. When you describe it that way you make it wayyyyyyyy to tempting to go. Reminds me of Cambodia back before the tourists turned it into a civilized country.

Anonymous:
I was going to say ..the Russian crime syndicate is one of the worst, and government is completely corrupt. Make sure someone outside knows where you are. Its easy to make someone disappear in Russia.

Antigen:
All I know about Russian culture is that when the Russian mafia came to So Florida the hookers and strippers were crying for the good old daze when the Italian mafia ran things.

Anonymous:
The russian mafia is BAD. they make the italian mafia look like choir boys in comparison. If i were you, che, i'd read up on the mafia a little before you go, learn about who they are and how they handle business.

this is what i can tell you in short:
Italian mafia: cocaine, heroin, small guns, careful well planned homicides with profession hitmen, modesty, racketeering.

Russian mafia: all the above, plus thorough corruption in government and big industry. they deal with diamonds, oil, metals (read about the aluminum wars or the history of yukos)....all the commodities, along with the human slave trade (they trick girls into coming to amsterdam or spain, then keep them there against their will as sex slaves/prostitutes), large shipments of military weapons (look up "tarzan", the miami boss of the 80's, and how he tried to sell a soviet nuclear submarine to drug traffickers. "u want sub? with or without missiles?!" lol). The italian mafia has glocks and revolvers. the russian mafia has tanks and helicopters.  the italian mafia kills the witness by shooting them. the russian mafia kills their entire extended family along with the next door neighbors and co workers by cutting their heads off and tossing them into the street.

most of the russian mafia has roots dating back 200+ years in the russian penal system, which took hold and rose to power during the great purge (when everyone got sent to gulags). The umbrella organization pretty much every mafia man belongs to is a prison gang called vory v zakonye ("theives within law", meaning they are thieves bound by a common law that applies only to them). there are different clans and organizations, they all fight, but they all (or at least their leaders) all belong to the vory.

here is the laws of the vory. Many of these laws date back to the soviet era and many do not follow the principles to the letter (e.g the ones about family or commerce), although this still remains the backbone of russian organized crime.

*Forsake his relatives -- father, brothers, sisters...
*Not have a family of his own -- no wife, no children; this does not however, preclude him from having a lover.
*Never, under any circumstances work, no matter how much difficulty this brings; live only on means gleaned from theft. Violent crimes and sex crimes are strongly frowned upon and may endanger a "vor's" status. Arms smuggling and drug trafficking are considered a form of commerce and are therefore incompatible with the status of a thief in law.
*Help other thieves -- both by moral and material support, utilizing the commune of thieves.
*Keep secret information about the whereabouts of accomplices (i.e. dens, districts, hideouts, safe apartments, etc
*In unavoidable situations (if a thief is under investigation) to take the blame for someone else's crime; this buys the other person time of freedom.
*Demand a convocation of inquiry for the purpose of resolving disputes in the event of a conflict between oneself and other thieves, or between thieves.
*If necessary, participate in such inquiries.
*Carry out the punishment of the offending thief as decided by the convocation.
*Not resist carrying out the decision of punishing the offending thief who is found guilty, with punishment determined by the convocation.
*Have good command of the thieves' jargon ("Fenya")
*Not gamble without being able to cover losses.
*Teach the trade to young beginners.
*Have, if possible, informants from the rank and file of thieves.
*Not lose your reasoning ability when using alcohol
*Have nothing to do with the authorities (particularly with the ITU, Correctional Labor Authority), not participate in public activities, nor join any community organizations.
*Not take weapons from the hands of authorities; not serve in the military.
*Make good on promises given to other thieves.

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in terms of mafia tho, you should be fine. just be aware that they are out there and they run EVERYTHING. being a teacher, the worst that can happen given that you dont piss anyone off is that local thugs might hustle you for protection. Remember that "protection" is also a commodity. if one gang wants say $300 a month, go to another gang on your own and cut a deal for $250 a month - they will keep the other gang off your back. it's called a "krysha" or "roof", everyone making money in russia has one.

another tip is carry around a stash of bribe money. It's not just a matter of bribing the cops when you get caught for say smoking some pot.....it's a matter of bribing the cops when they stop you and start claiming youre the murder suspect they've been looking for and will throw you in jail unless you give them money.


another tip: learn to drink. If you dont drink, you offend. you must drink with every toast (which happens every two seconds at a russian dinner). if you drink and get wasted, you offend even more. Learning to drink does not just mean tolerance - it means knowing what to eat with the vodka. pay attention to the russian cuisine - baked potatoes, pickles, and pickled herring is not there for just tasty eating, it's there for soaking up alcohol when in your stomach.

also, stay away from black (beluga, sturgeon) caviar from the black sea - the black sea is heavily polluted and the caviar is full of toxins and harmfull bacteria. I know quite a few people who were hospitalized, and a couple that actually died from eating a bad jar of  black sea caviar. Sometimes it's good....but it's really a gamble. you never know. it's like playing russian roulette with your digestive system.

Anonymous:
yeah even though the caviar can be up to a thousand dollars an ounce, dont trust anything from the black sea. shit is toxic. in russia, Price doesnt mean quality, it just means that is the maximum someone is willing to pay for it to show off for his date. it might really be worth one dollar, but they jack it up because that's the only way russians judge quality.


another thing i forgot to mention, is the cigarettes and vodka. it's extremely cheap, and 99% of it is crap. russian cigs are the worst in the world, there mostly just stems and nicotine-soaked paper and crap like that, with very little tobacco. of course, you can buy a carton for under a dollar, and there all double the strength of american retts, but they'll kill you a thousand times faster. and the vodka...you can also get a handle for under a dollar. dont buy the stuff. russians with money dont drink real russian vodka, or they'd all be blind by 40 and dead at 50 like many of the poor. The most favored brands of vodka are not russian brands (except for stoly) - the good stuff is same as in america - grey goose, absolute, svedka, etc.

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