The policeman came to the vehicle spoke to Sveta, arguing in Russian that she violated a traffic law. Sveta knew that she was right. She quickly called her lawyer friend who encouraged her to argue this situation which would require time today and on another day. Sveta knew she would win in court, as she has protested these unreasonable calls in the past. However, on this day, she asked the policeman, how much money he wanted. He told her 500 rubels. Sveta returned to the car and asked to borrow 500 rubels (or about $20). She gave the money to the policeman and off we went to the Children’s Home. Kenny guessed that he took the bribe.
Sveta explained that these policeman pull people over knowing that most won’t go to court to fight the violation and for a certain amount of money, they will not write down the information, letting the person go. She explained that the system is very corrupt and this is how it works in Russia. Sveta also said that if we weren’t in a hurry to go see Julianna, she would have fought the violation and won.
And that’s what greasing a pig is in Russia.