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| Europe |
| Moscow plans to bring back informers |
| 2003-07-16 |
| Stalinist-style neighbourhood informants could return to Moscow under a plan to create a city-wide network of spies to help thwart terrorists. A bill before the city assembly proposes a network of informers in all 600 districts, with councils of residents set up to spy on neighbours and newcomers. The head of each group will be paid 3200 roubles ($160) a month. The Russian version of "Neighborhood Watch". Officials say the scheme should make it harder for terrorists to plot attacks in the capital. "We would like to raise public conscientiousness to such a level that people will not just step over a suspicious package left near their homes or ignore someone who clearly resembles a suicide bomber," said Inna Svyatenko, the assembly member who proposed the bill. "We didn’t have any suicide bombers uder Stalin." But the potential for abuse has led many to fear a return to the witchhunts of the Stalinist era. The good old days in the USSR weren’t, unless you are a liberal professor at a U.S. university. Police have welcomed the idea, saying phone tip-offs have trebled since two suicide bombers attacked a rock concert at Tushino aerodrome on July 5, killing 15. The Mayor, Yuri Luzhkov, has backed the bill, which could become law by the northern autumn. Moscow’s street and building cleaners have already been signed up as informers. They see everything and nobody notices them. Many fear the new system will hit impoverished illegal workers the hardest. Vassili, 42, an illegal worker from Ukraine, said: "This will only increase the bribes I have to pay . . . I will now probably have to pay 1500 roubles to the council of residents to avoid the police taking an interest in me." Which is another reason the council of residents will back this bill. They’ll get a paycheck from the government for being an informer and take bribes from the people they are supposed to inform on. It’s a Russian tradition. |
| Posted by:Steve |
| #4 Should help the unemployment levels in Russia. Perhaps Germany should reinstate the Stasi to bring down its astronomical unemployment rate. |
| Posted by: ColoradoConservative 2003-7-16 2:02:10 PM |
| #3 Spies! All Spies! |
| Posted by: Raj 2003-7-16 1:49:43 PM |
| #2 Ahh, Rodina's continued appetite for repression and totalitarianism. |
| Posted by: Douglas De Bono 2003-7-16 1:19:18 PM |
| #1 I sure as Hell hope |
| Posted by: Not Mike Moore 2003-7-16 1:01:57 PM |