Some of my long-time readers will remember the tale of my first ever\u00a0visit to Russia back in February 2004, which involved a 3-day train journey from Moscow to Nizhnekamsk (or a town nearby, at least) in the Republic of Tatarstan.\u00a0 On my return I published a lengthy account of my trip which remained online for a number of years before I thought it wise to take it down, a decision I have no intention of reversing.<\/p>\n
Anyway, I recall being on the train\u00a0crossing some godforsaken snowfield the size of\u00a0Wales and a scruffy policeman coming into my carriage demanding to\u00a0see my papers.\u00a0 After handing them back to me he\u00a0asked to look through my bags, and I remember him making me\u00a0empty all my clothes onto the seat and explain\u00a0the charger for my Canon digital camera.\u00a0 Once I’d been told\u00a0I could pack my stuff away, I asked him what he was looking for.\u00a0 “Drugs,\u00a0guns, bombs”<\/em> came the answer.\u00a0 I looked out the window where I couldn’t even see one of the collection of tumbledown wooden shacks which pass for Russian villages.\u00a0 We hadn’t seen anything concrete in over an hour.\u00a0 I asked him how long he had been doing his job, and he replied a number of years.\u00a0 I asked him how many\u00a0foreign tourists he had caught on a train in the middle of absolutely nowhere carrying drugs, guns, or bombs in their luggage.\u00a0 Answer: none.<\/p>\n A rich seam of ludicrously pointless security checks runs right through Russia from the Baltic Sea to the Kamchatka Peninsular, and it does not bypass Sakhalin Island on its way.\u00a0 I am currently working on a small building project of negligible significance to anyone outside the company who wants it done.\u00a0 The location of the construction is on a flat piece of sand a couple of kilometres inland from Sakhalin’s east coast way up in the north of the island.\u00a0 It is about as remote as remote can be.\u00a0 It is a couple of hours by Landcruiser from the nearest railway station in Nogliki.\u00a0 The nearest settlement of any kind is a half-hour drive away.\u00a0 There is no structure or installation for miles and miles which does not form part of the facility which\u00a0our construction is adding to.\u00a0 A friend who worked there in 2005 said it was the closest he came to working on the moon.\u00a0 I spent yesterday on the site, and it is as remote and desolate as anything Kuwait had to offer.\u00a0<\/p>\n The\u00a0first part of the\u00a0works involves\u00a0carrying out a topographical survey, which is effectively a survey showing what hills, bumps, and structures are around the worksite.\u00a0 It takes about 1-2 days to complete.\u00a0 Before we can begin construction we must get approval from the authorities: fair enough.\u00a0 The authorities\u00a0insist we carry out a survey beforehand: also fair enough.\u00a0 The authorities\u00a0say the surveyors must be licensed: still fair enough.\u00a0 The authorities demand that the results of the survey cannot be released to any foreign company without their first having been sent to the FSB for examination, which takes 30 days: WTF?!!\u00a0 Yes, that’s right: no results of a survey of (from what I can gather) any kind taking place in Russia can be used by a foreign company without\u00a0FSB approval, even if the survey is recording a few foot-high lumps of sand\u00a0at the arse-end of Sakhalin Island a helicopter ride from\u00a0the nearest sizeable town.<\/p>\n I suspect were I to ask the Sakhalin FSB chief how many nefarious plots hatched by foreign companies against Russian national interests had been foiled by the FSB taking\u00a0a month to review construction survey results, the answer would be roughly similar, nay exactly the same, as the one my policeman friend gave me on the train to Nizhnekamsk.\u00a0 Security, like so much else, rarely makes sense in Russia.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Some of my long-time readers will remember the tale of my first ever\u00a0visit to Russia back in February 2004, which involved a 3-day train journey from Moscow to Nizhnekamsk (or a town nearby, at least) in the Republic of Tatarstan.\u00a0 … Continue reading