Out of Russia: Moscow Mob fuels explosion in car sales

MOSCOW - Ever since a car bomb decapitated a driver outside Paveletsky Railway Station a month ago, the Independent's chunky grey Volvo has never seemed quite as sturdy as it used to. It survived my driving into a brand-new salmon Mercedes owned by a Chechen businessman, but that was before plastic explosives and remote-control anti-tank mines became the favourite tools for razborka - settling scores between quarrelling parties.

President Boris Yeltsin's latest declaration of war on crime offers little comfort. Operation 'Hurricane' has produced only guffaws from Moscow hoods.

More helpful is a German company called Trasco Bremen. For very jittery Muscovites it proposes a Mercedes 600SEL fitted with armoured plates and windows strong enough to resist any bullet from an AK-47 or an M-16.

An optional extra is a device to start the engine from 100 metres away. This is handy for drivers worried about bombs connected to the ignition. The price: around pounds 250,000.

A cheaper option may be the Zil 115, Russia's own custom-built, armour-plated limousine. Zil makes only 10-15 such vehicles a year and, now that its most satisfied customer, the Communist Party Politburo, is no more, wants to promote its product abroad as a rival to Mercedes and Rolls Royce. But Soviet habits linger. 'The price,' said a huffy salesman, 'is a commercial secret.'

It was with keen interest therefore that I read an announcement this week on Tass, the old Soviet news agency, which now carries advertisements to supplement its income. 'Foreign Correspondents Please Note. The Makron Company is the first in Russia to armour and tint car windows.' Such windows 'will protect you from natural disasters, terrorist acts, and other accidents'.

The company operates from out of the back of a disused kindergarten in the south of Moscow. Business, said the director, a 35-year-old former officer in the Red Army, Alexander Olkhovenko, is booming.

'It is obvious that for some time yet there will be no order in this country. People must rely on themselves for security.'

A poster lists Makron's products: steel doors, alarm systems, video-cameras and armoured glass. There is also a picture of a drooling black pit-bull next to the company logo: 'Makron - Even More Reliable.'

Particularly helpful, he says, is the vogue for explosions. Kommersant, the main newspaper for businessmen, publishes a regular round-up of the best blasts. 'Whenever a bomb goes off, we send salesmen out to the district where it happened to hand out leaflets. They nearly always get a few orders.'

But what hope for the Independent's Volvo? The best bet, says Mr Olkhovenko, is a 'multi-laminated polymer sheet' which he will glue to the windows for only dollars 280 ( pounds 190), plus an extra dollars 100 if I want gold reflective tinting to ensure 'absolute privacy'.

Mr Olkhovenko shows a crude home-video to demonstrate how his plastic armour works. It features him bashing a hammer against an ordinary car window - it breaks straight away - and then against a window covered with special plastic - the hammer bounces off.

A second video - a bigger budget production pilfered from a British security firm - shows much the same thing, spiced up with grenades, smoke, and footage of the City of London after the big IRA bomb in 1992.

But will this really prevent decapitation in Moscow next time a car bomb goes off? 'No, of course not,' the specialist confessed. 'If they want to kill you no one can help. No one. You can do nothing. There is absolutely no way to protect yourself.' So why should I bother covering my car with his hideous tinted plastic? 'If they blow up your neighbour you should be all right.'