Good news for Moscow residents -- the streets are not as tough as you think they are. Or that, at least, is what Curtis Sliwa, founder of the Guardian Angels, seems to think.


"It's quiet compared to the open violence I've seen in American cities," Sliwa told journalists in Moscow on Thursday. "I've not seen the Uzi-toting, dope-sucking, psychopathic killing machines we have in America."


At least, not yet. But that does not mean Sliwa is not expecting it. As the country lurches toward capitalism, Sliwa anticipates all the evils of that system -- increased drug trafficking, theft, and violence -- to come with it. "We're messengers. We're born in the West, we've grown up with capitalism, and know of its dangers," said Sliwa.


Sliwa arrived in Moscow this week to determine whether the volunteer organization he founded in 1979 could find a home here.


Now established in 40 U.S. and seven international cities, the Guardian Angels, in their trademark red berets and T-shirts, patrol streets and subways to deter crime.


The main purpose of their Moscow trip is to find a free site they can use to train local recruits. Once they have a location, the Angels will be ready to start the three-month training program within a few weeks, Sliwa says. Within the past few days they already have contacted a dozen potential Angels-in-training.


While Sliwa believes the Angels, who are unarmed, will be a deterrent to street crime in Moscow, it is unlikely that they will have any effect on the growing number of mafia hits. "Organized crime is beyond our capacity," said Sliwa.


Having brought the concept to Moscow, Sliwa may have little control over the Russian Angels' evolution. Their local counterpart, the druzhinniki -- a city volunteer corps 5,000 strong -- already has the right to carry night sticks on their patrols. An unarmed Angel may find himself too vulnerable on Moscow's mean streets, where many consider gas pistols to be a necessity for self-defense.