Russia to Profit from Nature Reserves

Aug. 30 – Russia will spend a total of US$82 million to make the country’s national parks profitable and accessible for the public, just like in the United States, Natural Resources Minister Yury Trutnev said on Monday.

About 1.5 billion rubles (around US$51.7 million) will be spent on building infrastructure, with the remaining funds allotted for transportation and communications services aimed to monitor the territory of reserves and fight poaching, he said at a meeting with Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. Read the rest of this entry »

State Duma to Ban Beer Sales at Night

Jul. 12 – The State Duma may approve additional restrictions on the sale of beer with alcohol content of more than 0.5 percent between 11 p.m. and 8 a.m. in the country before the summer recess. The bill would also ban the sale of beer altogether at outdoor kiosks (stalls), train stations and street stands, at which around one-third, or about US$6 billion of Russia’s beer is sold.

The bill also expands the number of places where alcohol consumption is prohibited. These places will now include courtyards, elevators, building entryways, playgrounds, forests, parks and beaches. The law is expected to fully enter into force by January 1, 2013, but it is already causing shock waves in the industry. Read the rest of this entry »

AmCham to Educate American Politicians about Russia

Jun. 30 – The American Chamber of Commerce in Russia believes it can convince the U.S. Congress to repeal the nearly 40-year-old Jackson-Vanik Amendment, a part of the 1974 Trade Act that prevents the United States from granting Russia permanent normalized trade relations, or PNTR. Congress has held off repealing the amendment for almost two decades.

Since March 2011, Andrew Somers, president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Russia, began organizing trips to bring together members of Congress and executives from U.S. companies operating in Russia. The exchanges are intended to educate the politicians about modern Russia and stress its importance as a business partner, Somers said to The Moscow Times. Read the rest of this entry »

Study Shows More than 20% of Russians Wish to Emigrate

Jun. 10 – For the last 20 years, the number of Russians who want to emigrate has grown from 5 percent to 20 percent, according to a Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VCIOM) pool conducted from June 4-5 in 46 Russian regions.

According to the received data, 21 percent of 1,600 interviewed citizens wish to get a constant residence abroad. Groups between 18-24 years old (39 percent) as well as highly educated respondents (29 percent) and active Internet users (33 percent) showed the greatest interest in emigration. Read the rest of this entry »

Russia Has Billionaires, but Lacks Millionaires

Jun. 2 – According to global management consulting firm Boston Consulting Group’s global wealth report 2011, Russia ranks fifth in the highest number of “ultra-high-net-worth” (UHNW) households at 561.

This year’s Global Wealth Report titled “Shaping a New Tomorrow: How to Capitalize on the Momentum of Change” for the first time published figures on the countries with the highest number of UHNW households, defined as those with more than US$100 million in assets under management (AuM). Read the rest of this entry »

Kuril Islands to Remain Russian with Chinese and South Korean Support

May 18 – Living standards on the Kuril Islands of Russia’s Far East are extremely low, Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov reported as saying after his controversial visit to an island chain which is at the center of a territorial dispute between Russia and Japan. Analysts say that the socio-economic situation on the Kuril Islands has remained low for decades, but it was never an argument for Russians to give them back to Japan.

“This is my third visit to the Southern Kurils. I like the local nature very much, but I strongly disliked the socioeconomic conditions and living standards on the islands from the very start. In fact, there are no living standards here at all,” Ivanov said. Read the rest of this entry »

State Duma Deputies Gather With Experts to Develop Anti-Spam Bill

May 13 – The State Duma deputies have developed the draft bill, which calls for up to two years of corrective labor for unsolicited bulk mail-out of either commercial or non-commercial contents. Experts consider that the bill is seriously in need of fine tuning.

Amendments are developed by the State Duma Information Policy Committee together with the Russian Association of Electronic Communications.

Up to date, no balanced approach to the development of special rules regulating bulk e-mail has emerged in Russia. Few bills proposed over the last two years with respect to the Internet and electronic commerce stipulate different approaches to regulation of distribution and receiving of unsolicited information. Read the rest of this entry »

More Russian Cases to Be Arbitrated Outside Russia

May 12 – More than half of all cases in the British High Court commercial division are related to Russia or other CIS countries, media reports citing leading law firm employees as saying.

Since January 2011, 17 cases involving Russia and the CIS were filed with the London Court of International Arbitration. In 2000, that number was seven.

“It has become a trend … as Russian businesses have become more integrated into international trade where the use of English law is commonplace,” said Rupert D’Cruz, secretary of the Russian-British Law Association. “A significant proportion of high-profile, high-value disputes involves a Russian-speaking party.” Read the rest of this entry »

Russia Has Special Tax Culture

May 11 – Russia provides a very interesting example for a “different” tax culture from a Western point of view, economists who have studied Russian cases as well as market players who have experienced the country’s tax culture agree.

“The perceptions of tax obligations among Russians significantly differ from ones in developed economies. Somehow, tax avoidance in Russia was for years widely perceived as appropriate behavior, and the more risks an entrepreneur would take, the more respect he would have,” Sergei Tiunov, Director General, Outsourcing Division BDO Russia consider. “An outcome of such a situation is never-ending competition between the state and its citizens on who is more creative in cheating the other side.” Read the rest of this entry »

Russians Believe in God and in Horoscopes

May 6 – Russians are the most pious people in Europe, but only 4 percent of them observed religious rituals daily, according to two recent polls.

A record 82 percent of respondents acknowledged that they believe in God, according to a poll conducted by the Public Opinion Foundation and an obscure religious research group called Sreda. But only 50 percent said they belonged to the Russian Orthodox Church, said the poll, which was released this week by Interfax-Religiya. The church usually puts the figure around 70 percent. Read the rest of this entry »

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