Welcome to Soviet Russya, Ca. 1971

      I hate to bring up old news/old stories, but I read a good one about a diplomat's experience when he was first posted to Russya for our Dept. of State.  As the story goes, in his own words, he and his wife and 2 children were housed in an apartment(8th fr) and getting settled in one night.  He had just received delivery of his personal automobile which was parked on the street in front of the building.  At 2 o'clock in the morning, he heard a ruckus from the street below.  When he looked down from the balcony, he witnessed 3 men smashing his car with crowbars and hammers.  All the windows broken out, hood smashed in, doors dented, trunk smashed.   When he went down to the street, the 'perps' were gone.   A colleague(naval attache) joined him and they went to the local police.   There he saw the vehicle parked used by the smashers to come and go!   He reported the incident to the on duty policeman.   His response:  " These things do not happen in Russya. There are no hooligans in Russya. Therefore, it did not happen.  You have made a mistake.  Goodbye."
      So, like any good red-blooded American, he went to the New York Times and his story was published on the front page(also, Washington Post).  He was then admonished by his superiors who then refused to compensate him for his losses.   General Motors, maker of his auto, assisted admirably by shipping parts that some how got through to him and repairs were made.  This incident did not help Richard Nixon's presidency much at all.  
     The incident had another back story: after the NYT article was published, Mr. Evans received a late night caller at his apartment- a stunning 20-something blonde woman who invited him out for a tryst at 2am.   She said she was accompanied by another young lady who would also participate.  He declined, and slammed the door in her face.   She and her 'friend' did not come back.   He rightly assumed the friend was one of the perps who would have given him a thrashing much like they did his auto.
That was almost 42 years ago.   What's changed in Russya? Not much.