Hi All,

I was watching a documentary the other week, that reminded me of this incident, when I was living and working for a Western computer company in Moscow for 2 years, 1973-1974..
One evening as I was driving back to the hotel, I came to a traffic stop. The elderly Russian policeman, was delighted to have stopped an English speaking foreigner. By way of explanation, as 'accredited foreigners', we were accorded the honor of fluorescent white license plates, that could be seen a mile away, even in the atrociously dim street lighting of Moscow.
In halting, but good English, he explained that as a young Red Army soldier, he was attached to a liaison group between the Red Army and the allies in Berlin in 1945, hence his English.. After a lengthy discussion, where he explained how much he liked to practice his language skills as often as he could, before I drove off he pulled out his tattered Rule Book..He thumbed to Section X, Sub-section Y, paragraph Z - he could only count in Russian- and read to me, with a big smile on his face Quote :- "Try not to shoot foreigners. It causes many administrative problems.." ..He told me that I now I should feel very safe, and wished me good night..

It seemed amusing at the time, but in retrospect, it was a Monty Python meets George Orwell scenario, where the real "moral of the story is.." :-

      Feel free to shoot anybody, as long as it does not cause a great deal of paperwork...

Very surreal now, looking back to an experience from over 40 years ago....
Regards
Richard