Your Documents, Please – Part 2

by Keni Kurata
(Moscow)

It may be annoying to get stopped by the police so many times, but not all encounters with the police are bad. As a matter of fact, I wouldn’t say I’ve had too many bad experiences with the police. I’ve gotten so used to being stopped by the police that most encounters are just normal. But police officers can also be friendly and helpful.

Police officers are human too, and sometimes they get bored walking around and just want to talk. If you are an obvious foreigner just sitting around in a train station or bus station, they will be curious about you and want to talk to you.

Once I was traveling to Vologda and accidentally ended up in Cherepovets a couple hours away. It was early in the morning and the next bus back to Vologda wasn’t for another two hours. I sat in the huge empty waiting room with about five bored looking Russians. It didn’t take long for two police officers roaming the station to approach me with their famous opener: ‘Ваш документ, пожалуйста.’

I handed them my passport, they looked at it, handed it back and started asking questions about America. I started to answer when I realized that their tone of voice was different. They didn’t sound authoritative and interrogative. They sounded curious and friendly.

For the next two hours, they sat with me and asked all kinds of questions about the quality of life in America, and my impressions of Russia. Police officers like them certainly break the stereotype of Russian police and give me a better impression of Russia.

On another occasion, I was traveling to Lvov in western Ukraine. I had just arrived and got off the train when immediately, two police officers demanded to see my documents. After several questions, they found out I was a volunteer there in the city to work at a summer camp. It only took a few minutes before they let me go. I left the train station and tried to get in contact with the summer camp organizers. Unfortunately, I was unable to contact them.

I was in a new city and had no idea where anything was. Being the adventurous type, I decided to walk around and get familiar with the city. After all, I had nothing else to do. I walked around for hours, occasionally stopping to see if I could get in contact with the organizers.

Eventually, I came across the same two police officers who had checked my documents earlier. They recognized me first and in a friendly tone, asked me if I had found the summer camp. I explained that I couldn’t get in contact with the organizers, but I had the address. They looked at the address and explained clearly and in great detail where I needed to go and how I could get there. They were extremely helpful and as a result I was able to find where I needed to go.

One last bit of advice I can give is that you can get stopped anywhere at any time, so try to always be prepared. Although most of my encounters had been around train stations and bus stations, I have been asked for my documents on electrichkas and buses. I have even been asked for my documents once while I was jogging.

In shorts and a tank top, it was clear that I didn’t have my documents on me.

The police officers yelled at me for not having any documents, but what could they really do? What could I do?

Probably the most horrifying and unusual experiences I have had with the police occurred on an overnight bus trip within Ukraine from Chernivtsi to Mukachevo. We were packed like sardines in a tin can of a bus as we bumped along the mountain roads of the Carpathian mountains. Although I had a ticket, I was sharing my seat with three other people. I tried hard to get some sleep while the mountain roads tried just as hard to keep me awake.

I knew that both Chernivtsi and Mukachevo were very close to the Romanian border and I also knew that the route between the two cities went along the border as well. What I didn’t know was that there was some kind of check point along the way.

At about one in the morning, we arrived at the checkpoint and the bus stopped. The already overcrowded bus was boarded by two guards who began to check passports. I didn’t know what to think. I didn’t know what was going on. At first, I thought that the road to Mukachevo went through a small piece of Romania and we were now at some border crossing. I was slightly nervous because I hadn’t planned on exiting the country. But since Americans can go into Romania without a visa and I already had my multi-entry visa to Ukraine, I thought I wouldn’t have a problem.

I was wrong. Not only was this not a border crossing, the guards found something suspicious about an American traveling on a run-down old bus in the heart of the Carpathians at the dead of night. They took me off the bus and questioned me. It was taking a while, and the bus driver as well as the passengers were getting impatient.

Rather than send me on my way, the officers told me to get my bags off the bus. After they sent the bus off without me, I sat in the office of a stern looking official while guards were making phone calls to Kiev with my documents in their hands.

It didn’t take long for them to find out that I was legally in Ukraine as a Peace Corps volunteer and I was backed by both the American and Ukrainian government. However, it took two hours for the next bus to pass through. Although I was tired and a little bit shocked and overwhelmed at the fact that I was pulled off the bus, I remember that I didn’t feel angry or annoyed at all.

As a matter of fact, by that point the guards had become quite friendly with me and I remember thinking that this was a great opportunity to practice my Russian–– and believe me, my Russian seemed to improve when talking to authority. After two hours, another bus arrived, and I was sent on my way. I was a little bit annoyed that I had to pay again for the rest of the trip to Mukachevo, but thankfully, this bus was a lot more comfortable and there were plenty of available seats.

Being stopped by the police has always been a normal part of my Russian (and Ukrainian) experience. I know that many time I could have avoided a situation with the police had I known some of the things I know now. But I also know that for someone who travels as much as I do, encounters with the police are inevitable.

You can say it’s something I just have to tolerate, like bad weather. I prefer to think of it as a learning experience. I’ve come to learn that as long as you’re not doing anything wrong, the police are not people to be afraid of. Each time I get stopped by the police, I feel I learn a little bit more about Russian culture. Or at least it’s an opportunity to practice your Russian.

If nothing else, you might end up with a great story to tell your friends and family back home!