Russian Cops Target Americans As Ticket War Escalates New York’s Criticism Of U.N. Diplomats Spawns Payback By Moscow Officers

Once there was the Cold War. Now there is the Traffic Ticket War.

Russia fired the latest salvo last week when Moscow’s much-feared traffic police began aggressively stopping, interrogating and ticketing foreign drivers, Americans in particular. The crackdown - code-named “Foreigner,” according to Russian press reports - clearly was meant as payback for the Dec. 29 scuffle between a New York City traffic officer and United Nations diplomats from Russia and Belarus.

What started as a local misunderstanding became an international incident after New York’s pugnacious Mayor Rudolph Giuliani chided the Russian U.N. mission for racking up $5 million worth of unpaid traffic tickets.

He also accused the diplomats of being drunk and attacking the traffic officer while he wrote out a parking ticket for their car.

The diplomats say the officer went berserk and broke one Russian’s arm and eyeglasses.

Deeply offended by the incident, Russia retaliated Thursday when Moscow’s traffic police set up checkpoints outside the entrances to Soviet-built foreigners’ compounds.

Armed with black-and-white billy clubs, which they twirl with great effect before signaling a motorist to pull over, the police have been stopping every car with foreign designations on the license plate, a form of harassment not seen since the Soviet era.

Americans are recognized easily by the “004” that appears on the plates. The letters “D” and “K” further distinguish the car owners as diplomats or correspondents.

Russian drivers also live in terror of the traffic police, who do not need a legal reason to pull a motorist over.

Once a car is stopped, Russian traffic police will circle their prey several times, searching for a missing light bulb or a dent or some other infraction. Because fines must be paid on the spot to the officer, bribe-taking is rampant.

Recently, an officer opened negotiations with an errant American driver by asking: “How much can you afford to pay?”

More than 200 tickets have been issued to foreigners in the last two days of the crackdown, mostly for illegal parking, illegal U-turns and speeding, according to Russian newspapers.

While police are lobbing parking tickets at foreigners, the Russian press has been filled with articles disparaging their driving abilities, especially the Americans’.

“Foreign diplomats stationed in Moscow have become confident of their complete impunity,” complained an article in Friday’s daily Sevodnya.

“There is an ideology of double standards especially evident with the Americans. What they consider unthinkable, not to say criminal, at home is just an innocent prank abroad.”