There is a catch-22 in Moscow in which tourists briefly become targets for corrupt cops. Well, I suppose tourists are always targets for corrupt cops but there is a period when they are even more vulnerable than normal.
Foreign tourists must register their passports when checking into a hotel. Often times this process involves having to leave the passport with the hotel for a couple of hours or even up to a day. Normally the hotel will provide a receipt during this time in case you are stopped by police.
Moscow cops are smart, however, and are constantly checking tourists to see if they have their passports on them. If the tourists have nothing more than a flimsy receipt from some local hotel, the cops know how to play this up as though the document isn’t legitimate. Fines, naturally, can be paid on the spot. I’ve seen it happen many times, believe me.
Such scams are so common in Moscow that The Association of Guides and Tour Managers has recently penned a letter to the Kremlin insisting that something be done about it. According to an article in the Moscow Times, tourist guides “regularly face” this problem and as you might imagine, it doesn’t sit very well with their clients.
So, will anything be done? Doubtful. Corruption is rampant in Russia and I’m sure that a sternly written letter from a bunch of tour guides isn’t going to make any impact whatsoever.