"bystander problem" in Russia

[Jose Alaniz]

I have a sad story and a happy story. A gang of thieves posing as beggars 
once attacked me near Kievsky vokzal, in broad daylight, and no one tried to 
help. Fortunately I got away. More recently, a pair of young guys were 
following me on Leninsky Prospekt at about 4 in the morning (don't ask what 
I was doing there alone at that time or what state I was in). When it became 
quite clear that they were closing in on me, I made a run for it. Suddenly a 
taxi screeches to a halt on the road just ahead of me, the door pops open. I 
slipped in and we high-tailed it out of there. "I had been watching those 
men," the driver said. "They definitely wanted to rob you." I thanked the 
man profusely and insisted on paying him, though he said I didn't need to. 
It was one of those wonderful Moscow moments that made me love the city and 
its people more than ever. 

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