Posted on 10-9-2004

Inside Russia Today
From PlaNet Correspondent, 10-9-04

Will be years before things settle down here - on all fronts - although it
is said life has become much more stable these past 5 years! It appears to
be so. However, corruption is everywhere - from the highest to lowest
levels - which breeds constant instability to say the least.

Moscow: have spent most of the past 2 years here (off and on). Can
honestly say it is safe enough when walking about; statistics say it is
safer than London or other major cities except after midnight! One should
never even think of moving about in the small hours. At other times one
just needs to be street-wise as one would anywhere.

Nevertheless the acts of terrorism are on everyone's tongue and the
streets and Metro are quite quiet these last few days. As far as
travelling further afield here all I want to do this time is take a quick
trip to St P'burg (to see the Russian Museum). All within easy reach of
Moscow. Would NOT dream of anything else although have had several
invitations to more remote areas. In that regard it is definitely unsafe -
or at least too much of a risk.

Much crimes in the regional centres. The Chechen issue is of course to the
fore although the latest horrors in North Ossetia are related largely to
the Inguish territorial battles of 10 years ago and where tribal and
family rivalries also play no small part. Linking the latter to the
Chechen struggles was an act of solidarity - not necessarily the main
focus of the hostage taking. Dreadful beyond belief. Mercenaries will have
played no small part in this. Each day more and more info comes to the
fore - for me that means sifting through the local versions and comparing
notes with BBC (radio).