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Shifts in the Russian military tops - Qua bene?

Well, there were new of many changes in the Russian military. The minister od Defence, Serdyukov has been firead and replaced by Mr. Shoigu, a well-known ex of the Ministry of Disasters and the ex-governor of the Moscow region.

I have heard an interesting opinion regarding this issue. Well, it was obvious, the military hated Serdukov bacuse he was a civilian, a reformist and an accountant by nature.

He was also hated by the Russian arms production industry. The reason why was simple. He dared to challenge the view, that Kalashnikovs are the best rifles in the world and other munitions are the best, no matter how old, reparable and expensive they are.

Well, farewell Mr. Serdukov

Early sleep

Sending to orders tomorrow

University of Liverpool online

My.OHECampus:



'via Blog this'

The Lost World of Communism (Part 1)

Russian Railways - 170 years anniversary

Russian prank calls - humor with a twist

Well, I have originaly devoted this blog to dull things like business, customs, sales and other things. Tonight I am taking a break and writing an article about prank calls in Russia. I hope that this article of mine may provide some insigt into the Russian culture and perharps would allow to understand us, Russians better.

Russian prank callers may or may not be part of a large internet-based subculture. If they are, they may join one of several groups, centered around particular leaders and often theme websites. The history of Russian prank calling began in the late 1980's when a cassete with records of conversations with an old man started flowing from hand to hand between Moscow's young men. The old man sure was a hard man for his voice was charismatic, full of special terms and very, very addictive. "You are all under the glass cap. We are watching your every step. There are serious people from the Spetsnaz watching your every step"... so he adressed the caller. The man, who is still alive hasbeen named "Ded IVZ" - "Information-Detection-Center old man". He remains an icon to this day.

Currently, the culture of prank callers is complex and quite different from, say, American jokers. Russian pranks involve long-lasting relations over the phone. The person recieving the calls is often referred to as "The victim" and the term may not be too far from accurate. Russian prankers are in constant search for "victims" who would last for several months or even years. This almost certainly means either mental problems or worst cases of human vanity, often found in TV-stars. There has been a case of a third-rate tv persona gaining publicity by becoming a renowned prank victim.

The most famous prank victims include:

- TV and movie stars. There used to be a prank website, dedicated to harassing famous Russians by phone. Some were involved in 20-40 conversations long stories.

- True "victims". One old lady with issues defined the callers as the company of the son of the local school principal, who "sells drugs and practices sodomy" and carried on cursing every caller viciously for 5 full years.
An old doctor with a prison term for illegal abortions behind his back was lured into believing he was being pressed by an old colleague of his. Threats, curses and often clever definitions lasted for a full year. As he began to turn the phone off, pizza delivery services, household moving companies, prostitutes and vets were sent to his doors to get the old man angry.

One particular trend in the Russian prank is dedicated to annoying officials. Police departments and especially the Army's recruiting offices often get pranked.

Russia's WTO opportunities: small business perspective.

It happens som that I work in small business and deal with the Russian customs regulary, so I can think of myself as a reliable source of informationn regarding the issue. What dis Russia gain by officially entering the WTO? What do small businesses gain or lose? What happens to the general population? Well, most populist polititians from all directions found a way to bark at the WTO. I remembe speeches and articles, stating that WTO would:
- Kill the Russian agriculture
- Kill the Russian manufacturing companies
- Force Russia to privatize many enterprizes
- Fill the Russian market with GMO's and other evils

As a consumer, I have noticed none of those. There are no interesting changes on supermarket shelves. The balance between imported and local foods remains pretty much the same as it used to be before the WTO bill was signed.

Apart from ideology of freedom and transparency, the WTO is mainly about customs regimes. Technically, it is little more except the agreement to limit customs bills and to restrain from pouring money into failing sectors of the economy. The latter never aplies to banks, it seems. Well, they never produce anything anyway.

So, now to the customs we go. I always ask my customs broker: "Any WTO news?" The reply is steady "No, the regular Bedlam". The meaning of this can be explained by the following:
- Russia has agreed to shift the customs import fees down for some groups of products over a period of 6 years.
- No shifts that I know of have happened by November 1st 2012.
- There are no changes in the customs procedures

What does this mean for an international company moving something across the Russian border? Well, remember that Russia is not part of the EU. You should get acquainted with the Customs Code of the Customs Union to determine, on what grounds can your goods or equipment be brought to Russia. No matter what a company brings to Russia, submitting a customs declaration is inevitable and in case the goods are subject to certification, the procedure may become a nightmare. You are welcome to ask me directly and I will try to answe as best I can.

Moscow Exhibitions: Booth design, trends etc

I just came back from an exhibition in Moscow, called Intercharm. The event was large, expensive and hard as usual. 4 days of 12-hour shifts with little sleep and a lot of presentation work. Since I work in St. Petersburg, some of the issues regarding this Moscow event were somewhat strange to me. Not that I did not know about them, but rather that they seem worth underlining to me.

The event takse place in the Crocus Center outside Moscow. The complex includes 4 exhibition halls a mall, a concert hall and a hotel. The hotel is a 3-star, but during the Intercharm, room rates went up to 400 USD per night. So, we had to live in Moscow and take an hour-long ride in the Moscow subway to the exhibition.

We had the booth designed by a St. Petersburg exhibition company we've been working with for over a decade. They are good guys, but the designer seems a bit lazy. Generally, I draw the booth oiutline in Google Sketchup and send them a Jpeg so that they know, what I mean.

They do the graphics, we approved the final design, which looked somewhat like that:

We have abandoned the idea of using standard-issue constructions, as it is very important to stand out on a major exhibition, given that forst-row booths are somehow NEVER EVER given to anyone except the big Moscow companies.  So, during the planning, my major concerns were:
- The booth should stand out
- The booth should allow to vizualise the goods
- The booth should have a large storage space
- The audiovisual systems should work all right durig the show

I designed some kind of an original system for this exhibition. Out company is not rich enough to compose a 2 meter wide screeo of 4 HDTV's mounted on a frame, so I found a cheaper solution. The wall of the storage room is actually a screen for the projector, mounted on the side of the tower stand to the right. The distance is about 4 meters, so, given the slight shade from the banner, the 3000 lumen projector provides a sufficiently clear picture. It has to be on top, so that the image does not get abstructed by people, working at the booth.

I used my notebook as a source for films, presentations and slide shows, while the camera, connected via HDMI allowed to show large images of cosmetic procedures on the improvized screen. This is very useful, when presenting products for the use on the face. In the nail business, not having a system with a camera feed on a large screen is suisidal.

I have my favorite sound system, composed of a 3 "in" mixer from Mackey, a SHURE wireless system and a  pair of studio monitors (I have been usiung the M-Audio BX 5A for the last 3 years). The studio monitors are powerful enough, still, they are small and can be used at home for the rest of the year. A total of 18 meters of audio cables allows to move the gear freely across the booth.

I always start the exhibition by taking a walk around, asking the neighbours, if the level of sound on my booth is comfortable to them.

Now back to the Crocus center.

Surprises are:
- Paid acess for trucks with exibition materials ($250)
- No printing facilities (only one copy machine at the service reception, making copies for 50 cents a page and printing for 90 cents a page. We always take a printer to the exhibition, as 1500 pages is not the limit for "suddenly run out papers".
- Bad food
- Paid wifi in the exhibition hall. Wifi acess costs $150 for 4 days for 1 computer and mobile internet fails frequently inside the exhibition complex.

Now to the market trends.
It seems that Russian cosmetologists and their clients have decided to go mad. I have repeatedly heard the following phrase: "Blah, you've got c-o-s-m-e-t-i-c-s! Ahh, that stuff never works. We are here for injection therapy only! Well, seems like most of Moscow's well-to-do ladies start having botox at 25 and a multitude of mesotherapy coctails, fillers, gels, placenta extracts, stem cell extracts and the like injected int their skin. This may sound stange for European ears, but it is generally true for the Russian metropolia. Take into account the fact that some cosmetologists often can't boast anything except a degree in nursing and most "injection therapy classes" last 2-3 days "on condition of a purchase" and you will get the idea of what a market that is.

After it all ended, I went to a knife exhibition to hear a lovely story of one of the knife-selling companies having had an exployee arrested right at the exhibition after the police managed to trick her into skipping the paperwork. =) Well, I am so glad I left Moscow for home!

Building a virtual business

Well, my venture is slowly moving on. My curent goal is simple - I need to collect the money for the next purchase of materials.

So what have I managed to do? Now I hava an internet-store and a small operation selling Kydex across Russia.

Now some things I've managed not to introduce:

- Rented office
- Staff
- Store

Travelling around St. Petersburg

This summer I have been travelling around St. Petersburg, Russia to find the not-so-well-known places of interest and here's what I have found....

The 16-th century Swedish fortress of Kopor'ye some 40 kilometers from St. Petersburg

 The Naval Cathedral in Kronschtadt, the city's historic naval base. The cathedral is being restored.

 A historic truck at the walls of the magazine building in the Red Hill fort, 50 km from St. Petersburg. This 6-wheel drive monster is still running, even though it has been set on fire 3 times by the local err...people.

 The magneficent 300mm artillery train in the same Red Hill fort (Krasnaya Gorka). We saw a group of activists (people who fight to conserve the monumental complex, which is being attacked by the local government who are backing a residential complex project on the spot). The people were painting the wheels and checking if everything was in place.

 The loading mechanism for the 300 mm cannon.

Subscibe for more =)

Fresh air

Well, let me share, what a business with a $2000 of starting capital looks like. Let us ignore the formal figures, as if i get down to them, I'd wish I never started. Well, like any business.

So, what I have done with my $2000?

I established a firm and opened a bank account.

I bought 8 sheets of Kydex and cut them into 400 pieces to be sold separately.

I opened an on-line shop, made a page in a Russian facebook clone vk.com

The operations started on September the 9th.

By now:

- I have sold my kydex to 9 different customers in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Samara, Ryazan and Yoshkar-Ola.

- I am currently working with 4 new customers and keep up with the previous 9, expecting new orders.

I sell via a delivery firm, as they send the cash to my firm's account right away.

My e-stoe is almost useless. There has only been 1 sale through it. All the other 8 come from the social network. I keep my database with the social network accounts of my customers, because these proved to be the superior contact method.

I have sold for a total of $300.

Am I depressed? No. Selling a completely new product with no experience in sales, no advertisment and no help is not that bad. I wish to get to #500 by October 15th and increase the sum firther by November.

Finally, a nice pic of a sheath by one of my group members

Oh, btw. I should offer him a deal!

Kydex cut into A4 format

Auto-Training

It's almost 3 AM

- No sales today

- No sales till Monday

- The payment system still does not work

Well..

This is a great idea

It it still woth doing

Thanks God I employ noone but myself!

My new business: Done so far

As I am planning to work with kydex, here are my first steps:

1) Calculations

2) Website for E-store

3) Ordered the E-store

4) Now doing SMM. A group on the Russian Facebook alternative.

5) A giveaway. Proposed a competition of manuals "Make something interesting of Kydex".

The essence of my current business

 A thermoplastic material from the US to be sold in Russia. Good for home-masters who love gadgets, such as this one =)

Russian business before 1917 - part 1

I have recently discovered, that my blog has no central idea whatsoever. So, I decided to write down another random topic, which nobody cares about. 

Russia is a country with the most dramatic history of private enterprises ever. Technically, the industrial revolution could not take off before 1862 when serfdom was officially abolished. Yes, Russia freed about 80% of its population from slavery after the US freed african-american slaves. From a social point of view, the situation was super-complex in Russia. In 1862, slavery wasabolished. The Tzar's government, howether did not dare to hit on the interests of the nobility too hard. All the freshly freed peasants found themselves in debt which they had to pay over a period of 10-20 years to their ex-masters for their land and freedom. Only the reforms of the early 1900's allowed this stagnation to end, resulting in massive immigation to the Russian cities and extensive industrial growth. By 1913, St. Petersburg was a modern European capital with lots of industrial enterprises and technological marvels, available to the rich in the forms of cars, private boats, electric lights and as sewing machines, electric trams and cinema to the public. It is fascinating to know, that many of the future giants of European business were already in Russua these years: Siemens, Citroen, Zinger. 

All the plants were nationalized in 1917. So now only the old buildings remember the start of free enterprise in Russia.

Russia has entered WTO: now what?

It's been a long story with our country. The USSR was a stubborn country, which did not like global associations. Communist associations suited it better and thanks to Joe Stalin and the KGB, there were plenty! But the world has changed and now we live in a global associated environment.

So, where has Russia arrived by finally signing all the WTO agreements? Well, actually, there is no big deal. For years, interest groups have been inflating the public debate. Anti-WTO rhetorics are the best presented in the media field. Here are some rumors, which have been circulationg the media since the 1990's.

- WTO is going to kill Russia's agriculture. How? Well, by introducing cheaper meats, vegetables and grains to the market. "Evil global forces will force Good Mother Russia to stop donating to her agricultural businesses, some still semi-government owned". What is really important? Well, government support to business in Russia is usually the essence of inefficiency. So, why don't we welcome the idea that less of our money will be being dumped into this financial black hole? The issue is complex, but mostly, the problem is with people who got used to the soviet idea of "self-sufficiency", which has almost never been nothing but a myth.

- WTO is going to kill Russia's manufacturers. Well, this one is a real problem. In today's world it is important to keep the industrial backbone afloat. Russian manufacturers of cars, ships, heavy machinery etc openly acknowlege that they still exist mainly due to import regulation. Even with the current customs tariffs, the Chinese car manufacturers still have a chance of biting a lump off the Russian car market in the next few years.

- WTO will kill Russia's banks. Give me that pistol, WTO, THAT'S how you make the control shot! Yes, this one is just dumb. There are many foreign banks in Russia anyway, there shuld be with credit rates of 15-17% for businesses and 19-30% for private persons. The financial system is stable, and there is always room for a few players.

Now, isthis all going to happen? Well, I don't think so. The reasons are simple.

- Russia is not rushing to reform the customs service. Like not at all. All the agreements on reducing tariffs are extremely vague with terms stretching from 6 to 15 years with conditions like "possible temporary increases of the tariffs to compensate for the changes". Customs will be working by the Customs Codex of the Customs Union, so, most likely, the rules are going to remain as they are today. And today the process is not transparent, complicated and full of difficulties.

- The system of requirements for goods is going to be strictly internal. I do not believe that anytime soon I will be able to import cosmetics having the ISO and GMP certificates of the manufacturer.These papers are now rubbish in Russia. Well, not that. One needs to present them while applying for the certificates of the Customs Union. Just to give you an example:

In order to import cosmetics for in-country sales, a company must present:
- State Registration papers, issued by Rospotrebnadzor of Russia. Every product must be have such a paper, or be included in a list with similar products in one. Cost: 100 USD per certificate + around 150 USD per product for testing. At least 100 ml of each product has to be submitted for testing. These take about 2 months to be issued.

- The new declarations of conformity. Now you have to declare the conformity to the Technical Requirements of the Customs Union, which is fresh and raw. Product groups are allowed again, but just for similar products. 130 USD per paper + up to 200 USD per product for testing. Again, at leasr 2 packages of at least 30 ml each fot each and every product. Can only be issued after the first papers are presented. Will take approximately 2 weeks.

Professional cosmetics become a nightmare with hundreeds of products and comparatively low volumes.

Stay tuned =)

Russia's profit margins - good pr bad?

Russia is a wild market from the point of view of Western companies. Normally, Russian companies prefer to engage in processes with at least 160% profitablity..

Pussy Riot: Qua Bene

Now with the sentence for Pussy Riot having been announced, the world is eager to defend the ladies from...err..who knows what?

My point is, all the Pussy Riot memners WANTED to be jailed more than anything else. They evaded all the formalities, which would make suspended sentence or minimal sentence possible. The question is: "why?'. Well, there are all these senses of pride, self-respect and rebellion against Putin, who does not give a shit. Should we believe this? I don't think so!

Two of the girls are young mothers. Tolokonnikova and Alekhina both have children under 5. Now, there are formal steps in any trial, which would have allowed them to come home to their kids with a suspended sentence.

Step 1. Cooperation during the trial. The ladies did not cooperate during the investigation. They openly disrespected the agents who tried them, drew the conversation from answering questions to dictating lectures. Yes, it seems heroic. No, I don't think we should applaud to young mothers who prefer going to jail and becoming famous to sacrificing their fame for their kids.

Step 2. Admitting the crime incriminated to them. Neither of the girls ever admitter being guilty. On the contrary, they kept on saying, they were doind what is right. There are issues here: a) Their actions are at least 95% a violation of the administrative\ criminal code of the country. b) A punk show in the country's main cathedral is at least a sign of disrespect. Now again, they behaved like heroes, but their behaviour drew the prosecution closer to their goal of building a criminal case.

Step 3. Pleading guilty, claimimg the understanding of the crime commited, promise to "never repeat". All these formalities usually soften the sentene in a criminal case. The ladies did neither. This made the picture pretty clear: release them and the next day they will do that again.

It is important to note, that their actions inside the cathedral actually did contribute to more disrespect and hatered between the chirch-goers and creative young atheist groups. So, yes, harm has been done.

So, in my opinion, all the Pussy Riot trial is a show:

1. The defendants are making sure that they will get their sentence. This is enourmous publicity and they did everything not to lose it.

2. The lawyers understood the fate of the defendants from the beginning. They also replaced detailed defence with PR-speeches.

3. The Russian judicial system showed off its illogical backwardness. Had the ladies been fined and kicked out of the police station the next morning, nobody would give a crap about them. They are actually a marginal art-group with no taste and no talent. Their previous actions included sticking a chicken up a woman's vagina in a supermarket, turning over police cars in St. Petersburg and having sex in a public museum with Tolokonnikova taking active part while 9 months pregnant. So, the prosecutor may be right by saying; "They are not punks, they are professional provocators".

Pussy Riot and the Magnitsky act: what's different?

Well, recently I saw a visit via a search request "Pussy riot magnitsky act". I wondered, what could be the relation of these two famous Russian cases? Anyway, I decided to provide some short explanation of these issues.

Magnitsky died in pretrial detention. He was placed there, because in the Russian justice, the prosecution office, the investigative comitee and the judge all prefer the defendant to be kept in custody before the trial. As I explained earlier, for the officials, this means less paperwork, more comfort at work and lower risk of getting into trouble if the defendant does not show up. Magnitsky's case was a criminal case. He was suspected of tax-evasion schemeing on a large scale. We will not discuss the scandal here in all detail, if you exuse me.

After Magnitsky died in pre-trial detention, there was a global scandal. So, the government passed several law corrections and introduced some legal guidances to make sure that people, suspected of economic crimes are not jailed before trial. It is still possible fo the investigative comitee to ask the judge to allow them to keep the defendant in custody, but now there are prescriptions in the law to disallow that.

Pussy Riot girls on the other hand were not suspected of economic crimes at all. Their case was viewed as a criminal one with the procecution pressing on the issue of "huliganism performed in an act of public demonstration of hatered to the Christian flock". Thus, they were not protected by the Post-Magnitsky case law corrections at all.

The Magnitsky case had a strong effect on the Russian legal system. No, nobody gives a damn about the "Magnitsky Act" in the US and the EU. The very idea of white-collar people dying in the awful prison conditions, while being cooperative to the investigators and not presenting a threat to the society hit too hard on the Russian public.

Back to the Pussy Riot case. I see lots of blaming towards the Russian court, saying that it must have paid attention to the Western media and Western rock stars. Well, this is Russia. The establishment is made up of people in their 50's. Their idea of the proper behaviour for Russia is "Be strong despite all odds, never bend to outside pressure". Thus, the more pressure - the more stubborn the system is. Naturally, with all the shouting, the judge could not have followed the Western pressure. Most people in their late 40's and 50's are happy, and they are the ones who make up most of economic and electoral majority.

Basically, Russia's main political problem is not with Pussy Riot. It is just that there is a too low percentage of young, ambitious population to add speed and passion to our life.

Comments appreciated. 

Pussy Riot - what's really happening?

Tomorrew we will see a verdict in the Pussy Riot trial. So, what has happened and what is going to happen? I will try to look at this situation without moralizing or switching to emotions.

The girls performed a 40 seconds long show inside Russia's main cathedral. Their act was quite shocking for the general public. Indeed, there were people, who wanted them punished. As there must have been people with influence, there was enough effort applied to the case to make it possible for the prosecution office to start working on filing a criminal case and for the investigation comitee to start "solving" this case. These actions can be launched against a person or a group in Russia as in any other civilized country by court order.

Why are they in jail? The Russian system prefers the defendant in a criminal case to stay in jail during the trial. This is a lot simplier for the prosecutors, the investigators and the judges. In terms of paperwork, workload and bureocratic formalities. Normally, the investigative agency requests that the defendants be kept in custody during the trial. The Magnitsky case has created a public outcry, which resulted in recommendations and law corrections, making people who are tried for economic crimes more likely to stay out of jail during the trial.

Why are they being tried and not set free? In any case, just or not, there is a criminal case against the three ladies. The Judge has to close the case down for them to be released.  Procedures are slow, so before the court hearings they were in detention so that the investigators could do their work. Now they are behind bars so that the judge can calmly write her decision down.

Will they be set free tomorrow? Very unlikely. Russian courts have around 0,7 percent case dismission rate. That does not mean few people go fee from court. Basically, their best chance would be to get a sentence equal to the time, served in pre-trial detention. A suspended sentence is likely, as well a real term howether. Why does not the judge say "We're sorry, now go!"? There are many formalities in the legal system. The judge is responsible for the paperwork logic of her job. Then, it is not the judicial system's interest to be detaining people for six months for nothing. This is why, already-served-in-detention terms are often used. This makes sure that the person has no right to request satisfaction from the government. Appeals are possible, but rare. Judges also have to submit a lot of paperwork after the case is closed. In case they drop all charges, they risk being subject to a corruption investigation right away.

What do Russians think of that? Well, there are many people, who want the girls to suffer. There are many of those who would rather see them free. What the Russians are dissatisfied with is the reaction from the outside world. Many now believe, it's just the pop stars getting a bit more press attention. Sure, does not help, but does irritate a bit.

What I think? Russia is a powerful enough player for the global establishment to respect its privacy. Forget it, gas prices, military stability and international trade are far more important then abstract illusions like "human rights", "gay rights" of just "freedom". The latter goes well with a claymore and a painted face, if you know what I mean....

Made in Russia - Exported to the USA

What if not Izhmash - the plant that makes kalashnikovs? Their rifles are sold to the US, where they are quite popular, due to some tricky facts:

- They are cheap
- They are reliable
- They ae primitive - easy to fix, hard to get lost in details

Well, here is a true Russian Brand!

Well

Madonna in Russia - a reason to spit

Madonna has left, but there is still some lees in the air, as they say in Odessa.

I don't believe in the concept "Madonna fights fo human rights". Events with Pussy Riot seem to match a formulae: "A scandal + a 15 000 $ fine = 5 million bucks worth of PR.

Bye, Madonna!

How to import spare parts for vessels into Russia

I have heard, it may be a problem for a company, which owns a vessels to conduct the necesaary technical services because it is sometimes impossible to have spare parts delivered into Russia. The Customs service would not simply allow spae parts through, as we are a country with very strict customs rules. That means, every bit of cargo, recieved by a legal entity is subject to customs declaration by Russian rules. Complications are numerous. There are issues like the decision on the customs value of goods, which influences the ammount of fees to be paid. There also can be issues with the goods code, as customs officials may well decide to change it in order to increase the customs duty output. Corruption is seldom the case. Mostly, it is about the ship owners being unable to grasp all the aspects of the regulation.

I would advise caution:
1) If you plan on having the vessel repaired, either import the spare parts with the ship's cargo, or have them shipped to Russia in advance & find a Russian customs brokerage firm to help you through.

2) If the repairs are unexpected, have a customs brokerage firm import your spare parts fo you.

I will share contacts and recommendations upon request =)

Importing goods to Russia. Shallow waters and hidden reefs.

Working in Russia means dealing with uncertainty on a daily basis. Working with the Russian customs means swimming in  a shark tank in a suit made of bacon. Today I will write about some practicse which make importing into Russia harder. The Russian customs serves one major goal that is to deliver as much money to the budget as possible. So here are some risky points which you should keep in mind.


First of all, you should know, whether your goods require certain certificates. An attempt to import something, which requires a Russian certificate without having one is one wide road into trouble. Possible outcomes are a fine, followed by an order to proceed with a customs clearance procedure within 2 months, which if failed will automatically lead to a second administrative case, another fine and finally the liability to pay for the customs warehouse, which normally costs around 1 0cents per kilo a day.

It is wise to know the Customs control sums for your type of goods. These figures are the product of the Customs officials internal investigation, which makes them poorly related to the actual market situation. STill, if your price per kilo is lower then the required minimum, it may be adviszble to increase it by ordering more expensive transport etc. If your goods are too cheap, you are looking at a process, named the correction oof customs prices, which means the customs officials will decide  how much you owe on their own.

Zero customs duties. Goods with a zero customs duty are subject to extensive study. The whole idea of importing at zero duties is essentially against the main goal of the Customs. It is therefore a good idea to prepare as many papers as possible to support the claim for zero level customs duties and prepare for supply delays. It is likely that the Customs officials will attempt to rule for the change of the customs code in favor of the one with higher duty figures.

All these issues are easier to evade than to deal with. Generally if you are right and the customs official is wrong, the court will rule in your favor, but this won't take less than six months. Corruption is rarely the case, as Customs are strictly monitored and the officers follow instructions to the letter.

What is Russia's best brand? Poll

What is Russia's best brand?
	Kalashnikov
	Smirnoff
	Sukhoi jets
	MIG jets
	Sinebruhoff beverages (yeah, I know)
	LADA cars
pollcode.com free polls

Some new stuff - online Master's

I am currently working on an entirely new thing for myself, that is I have joined a Master's programe in Global Marketing online.

There is a long and sad story with my higher education, which has stretched far too long. Well, anyway, here is my story.

I finished my BA in Sociology in my home city of St. Petersburg in 2009 and wanted a Master's ever since. I rejected sociology right away, took a look at the language studies, but finally decided to take up business. So in september 2010 I won a scolarship for the Master's in International Business at the St. Petersburg State Univercity's Graduate School of Management (GSOM). It is a great school for Russia, member of CEMS and PIM. Shortly, I got dropped after the first semester. Reasons, well...

First of all they told us not to work at all during study. Easier said then done. My mom, who runs the business I still work for said "no + 2 hours of brain washing about responsibility". So I decided to live in a mode of "full time study + work", which proved just great. My week looked somewhat like this:

Monday: Study 9-00-18:45
Tuesday: Study 9-00-13-30, work 14-30-21-00
Wednesday: Work 10-00 - 13-00, Study 13-40-18-45
Thirsday: Study 9-00-10-30, Work 11-30-20-00
Friday: Study 10-45 - 17-30
Saturday: Study 9-00 - 13-00, Work 14-00-18-00

The timetable varied from time to time, but generally looked close to this. The strangest thing was that I did actually manage my studies till November quite well, staying in the middle and catching top grades in the more humanitarian disciplines. The Russian system is built around a symester, ending in exam sessions. From mid-november to December 29th we had 12 exam sessions, which effectively sum up each of the courses, studied during the semester. The rule is simple. 3 failed exams mean automatic expulsion. To the honor of the institution, I found no back door. Hell, I did search! I failed:
- French (Spent the night before the exam at work till 23-30, the exam was at 9-00).
- Statistics (as I went to the exam test, the road was blocked for half an hour to pass an official's cortege). I came 30 minutes late, they just gave me the paper and tooked it not a second later than the deadline.  The corect course of action for this case would have been: hit my head against a wall, go to the clinic, get the paperwork certifying the injury's time and date, go th the univercity the next day and file for late submission. The rules are the rules.
- Corporate finance. I am just dumb at international corporate finance.

I am very anxious about my Master's degree, which I have taken online at the univercity of Liverpool. I hope it goes be

Beer or vodka? Both mixed!

What do you expect a business meeting to be? Well, unless you deal with 80-year old ex-KGB people, you should get ready for just vodka. The creative class born in the 60's will mix, howether they like classics too. Young ones mix the most. Unfortunately.

Back to work

Today, I will be submitting the same customs declaration for the 5th time! Comment for details.

Russia enters the WTO: now what?

At last, our holy motherland is entering the WTO. So wto? err... So what?

Let's take a look at what the Russian public expects of the WTO, shall we?

First of all, there is a strong public concern about domestic industry. WTO will destroy Russia's agriculture, flooding the market with GMO from all over the world and the government will not be able to do anything! Then, all the Russian factories will close down! Every business will ruin, people will get less money etc... Yeah, that means, commies are still strong round here.

Well, here come my conclusions for that:
- The key factor, preventing foreign goods from dominating the russian market is the Russian Customs service. Trouble is, the market HAS ALREADY BEEN TAKEN BY IMPORTS. We import all the electronics, most cars (though there is a number of foreighn brands manufactued in Russia from imported parts), cosmetics, pharma, construction materials etc. Why does it happen today when there is no WTO in Russia? Well, there is no local competition. There are about 1,5 companies in Russia manufacturing cosmetic creams, while there are more than 30 brands imported from Andalusia of Spain alone. Due to the internal conditions fo business, going into manufacture is considered a mad idea. So, with WTO-style (he-he) customs, all the changes we may get are: quicker deliveries, slightly lower prices. I believe, neither will occur actually.

- The Russian manufacturing facilities boast hordes of stubborn working class people. Semi-government owned factories of huge industial scale, these behemoths were constructed to employ entire cities. Literally. Their problems are: they often lack moden equipment, modern finance and modern thinking. Being what they are, such "city-forming plants" become political institutions, pressuring local authorities to subsidize them and the government to provide orders for them to complete. The most striking example of this is in the mili-production plants. Yeah, this goes like "We don't want to fire 50 000 people before the elections, so please, do order 5000 tanks, thank you very much". What is going to happen is Russia will still subsidize them, no matter what WTO courts have to say about this.

Well, finally. Private businesses. As I said, there are few mad men, who invested into manufacture. Nearly everyone either sells or re-sells. Well, with an opportunity of slightly lower prices, everyone will prosper, unless the government will invent something against that.

Very true for Russia

"Good to have a clea mind. Still, a conduct of rules is always better!

Russia's key partners: Germany

Pictures only fo today

Some pictures from my last business trip

<a href="http://www.blogpingtool.com">Ping Blog</a>

Russian "shit happens" day coming soon

So it seems, that July the 1st will bring a lot of surprises...

Rospotrebnadzor will bring into being its new requirements - a million page long "Technical requirements" for every type of products. They will also make everyone acquire "Declarations of conformity" to the new requirements. That shit is gonna cost... In cosmetics, it is surprisingly close to the European technical requirements of 1976, but it has a separate tests for any cosmetics, marked as Nano.

Customs will begin integrationg with the WTO....Oh, that is going to be about tons of papers.

Every government institution is preparing a set of something nice and refreshing.

The results to expect: Higher costs, a period of nightmare, when nobody knows what to do, a lot more paper work.

Na zdorovje!

How to find business partners in Russia

Well, here I am writing this thing. Funny, because I am actually a Russian, looking for foreign business partners. so yes, pick me! Pick me! Ok, right, first you have to think...

I have gained most of my experience in the b2b products sector, so I will be looking into the key issues of the sphere.

The main boundaries, Russian partners might help to pass are the following: certification, customs clearance issues, various internal regulations, regional markets.

Unfortunately, Russia is a very dynamic bureocratic state. So, if you are looking for effective partners, you need to make sure, the people you are going to work with have recent (not older than 6 months) expertise in the field. Remember, Russia is permanently on an italian strike. You may master the laws and regulations, but unless you work with the internal order of government institutions, all this knowlege will do little. The situation regarding the certification of some items is a good example. You can only acquire certificates for some products in Moscow, even though, the regulation allows them to be certified country-wide. This seems to be an inside-institution agreement, but the inner workings might be as complicated as one's imagination allows.

Strictly speaking, you should check the reputation of your partners. Russian courts find it hard to cope with trademark ownership issues of lesser brands, so "mimic private labelling" is not a too rare occasion. So, there is a chance that a strong and well-connected company might jst stop buying the goods one day, while increasing sales on and on. As anywhere in the world, it is very important to estimate the opportunities and capabilities.

Just remember: Russia is a country of wonders. 

How to import to Russia?

Modern Russia is a bureocratic country, that's for sure. Here is a short summary of the actions, necessary for   conducting import and export customs operations.

All the goods, imported to Russia are subject to customs clearance. The procedure normally takes place before the goods can be picked up, which creates some security concerns for the importers. Exceptions are made for imports and especially exports, transferred by pipeline.

In order for everything to work fine, the system should work in the way, described below. I will describe it based on air freight imports. Procedures for marine \ land freights are almost the same, though vary in some details.

For goods, delivered for distribution inside the country, the following issues are to be arranged for the recieving company:

- Signed contract with the supplier with all the latest changes and additional agreements.
- Distribution agreement with the supplier (supports the right to sell inside the country)
- Bank's approved Contract Passport
- All the necessary certificates (only issued in Russia\ the Customs union countries).
- Company registration papers, Company codex, Taxation information etc.

All these documents must be presented for every customs clearance procedure. Copies, approved by the company's stamp.

For every batch of products, there must always be:

- An invoice
- An airwaybill
- Packing list (never required, but appreciated)

All these documents MUST BE travelling with the plane's crew, so that they can be given to the customs officials by the captain. Attention! Transport documents, clipped to the pallet are normally ignored, and the cargo is assigned the "Missing invoice" status. This prolonges the customs clearance by at least one week,  with an inevitable complete search of the entire cargo and possible customs price correction.

To complete customs clearance, the recieving company must present a customs declaration in a special format, accompanied by copies of all the above mentioned documents.

Documents, created specifically for customs clearance:

- Invoice translation
- Documents, supporting the price, which is declared. These include price lists and copies of the export declaration of the Seller.
- The declaration itself, prepared using customized software, developed solely for the purpose of creating customs declarations for the Russian Customs.

It is strongly recommended to use the services of a brokerage firm, still there are several surprises:

- Brokerage firms almost never work officially with assorted cargos. You will be offered to declare the goods yourself. This is standard practice. The thing is, fines for brokerage firms are exceedingly high. Thus, they might be obliged to pay a 45000 euro fine for an extra pair of gloves in a 2-ton batch of clothing.

Being married is great

One of the best motivators for writing a business plan is your wife in a soon-I-will-be-holding-a-frying-pan-instead-of-your-tea mode. Love you, darling, thank you!

After all, I've got my supplier. I've got the idea on how this works. Well, now I've got to do this.

Err, wish someone gave me money

Russian vodka brands - anyone interested?

Just wanted to ask, if anyone would like some info on the famous russian vodka brands. =)

Cheers!

You don't need a translation for that!

Russian business perspective - what's up?

In the 1990's when the world was younger, grass was greener and vodka was sweeter, Russia used to be free market economy with few rules, except for those of the outdated criminal code. Today in 2012 Russia is a country, ruled by Regulations with a big capital "R". Technically, binding businesses into a bureocratic came as a result of government policy of "vertical construction". The results are: Doing anything in Russia requires a paper for it and papers have a life of their own. My favorite example is the situation with the cosmetics market over the past 6 years or so.

One paper is never enough. So it seems, as you always had to have at least 2 documents for every cosmetic product. Before 2010, these were the "Sanitary Expert conclusion", issued by Rospotrebnadzor and the "Declaration of conformity", issued by a multitude of different government testing facilities. The funny thing is, test for both papers were almost identical. They checked the PH value, looked for bacteria, heavy metals and radiation. The paer logic (for imports or inside sales) was the following: "The first paper confirms the safety of the products, the other proves that it corresponds to the Russian standards - GOST's.
In 2008, a new form of "Sanitary conclusion" was introduced. The paper got the name of "State Registration Document". Technically, it was the same, but was supposed to last "for the duration of the product's existence". The old sanitary documents could only be valid for 2 years, while the declaratrions of conformity were only valid for 1 year. The routine was complicated and mildly expensive.

In 2010, Russia formed a Customs Union with Belarus and Kazakhstan. To celebrate the event, all the old papers were abolished, the previously "eternal" state registrations were assigned an expiration date of January the 1st 2012.
Customs Union for more efficient bureocracy and transparency? Well, 2 sets of papers again. New "State Registrations" - now lasting eternaly. The cost to acquire went up 5-15 times, depending on the product. Well, we still have to prove conformity with the standards, don't we? A set of "Declarations of conformity". valid for 1 year was introduced. In late 2011 it was replace with the "Certificate of conformity" valid for 2 years, which was banned in February 2012 to be replaced with "Declarations of conformity" (yes, again), valid for 1 year.

These regulations are reinforced concrete. It is illegal to import any cosmetics without these sets of documents. Of course, any American, European or international certificate, like GMP, ISO, organic labels etc. is not valid in Russia. Currently, a package of documents for importing cosmetics to Russia is 50-70 sheets for a batch of 100 positions.

Other fields see the same development of bureocracy. Construction companies deal with ROSTEHNADZOR. A standard document package for a commercial building is around 350-400 sheets.

The key difference is that Russian regulations are almost never inspired by public organizations. It is strange for a Russian to hear that acertificate is issued by an association. The Russian overlooking institutions prefer the word "Nadzor", which means "Overlooking enforcement".

Stay tuned. I appreciate comments. =)

Future updates + some self-loathing

Earlier, I wrote about making myself do things. So I can have my own business in Russia. I need advice, bloody hell, lots of advice.

The problem is I am a lazy, self-dismotivated bastard. My wife wants me to quit my mother's business, but she wants me to do it for 14-year-old girl reasons, thouugh we are both 24.

Right. So, I havre these massage tools coming to the country and I expect the certificates soon afterwards. Now, my current problems are:

- I am the director general in a firm with little turnover from selling professional cosmetics, which I decided to make an online-selling range, rather than a saloon based one.
- I have to make my own money. No, I do get paid now, but as I said, my wife keeps telling me, she'd prefer 500 bucks a month with my mother at cannon shot distance.
- I don't have people to work with, as well as means to pay them. What this "company of mine" is now making just a bit more than my current salary.
- I only expect demand for the massage tools I am going to import.
- There is a chance, that if I follow my wife's demand and burn all the bridges, I'll find myself not making a living and choosing between selling the car to try to float for a couple more months or getting a job with a salary of $800 a month or even less.
- This mess also jeopardises my educational plans, as I am to start my Masters in global marketing online in August.

Well, what I want to share in the future:
- Problems of cosmetics market around the world
- How to turn creative management into a global crisis
- Democratic vs totalitarian market regulation system. Which is worse.

Stay tuned!

Kickstart: SMM, marketing or sales?

It turns out, I will most likely start with next to no starting captal and with next to no experience in venture capitalism. Shortly, sorry, bro, no money.

Well, here are some pre-business plan ideas. So I have found this supplier, who sells this simple equipment. I happen to know people, who will be looking forward to buy that from me quite quickly. So, clearly, the first steps will be about personal sales. Like, I get a batch, sell most of it, reinvest the funds, sell again.

The key elements for goods for this period:
- Not perishable. An item can be sold after a year in storage with no loss in value
- Light & compact. Cheaper transport fees, less storage space required
- Simple. No service support, no 50-page user manuals. The client knows what to do with the stuff

So, it crystalizes into:

- B2B
- Homogenious assortment
- Maximizing speed rather than quantity

Kick number 1

One of my first steps is to create a business plan for myself. This should include:

- A strategy of achieving my business goal
- Sheldued plan
- Opportunities and motivations for me & my future associates

Kick me!

Well, my life has been difficult over the past months. Now, I will have to switch from theory to practice. I also intend to use this blog as a "kick log" for myself.

So the situation is: I work for my mother's business and both me and my wife hate it. I tried to find a job, but with my current age and qualification, the situation looks quite hopeless. My top expectations were around $1000 a month, which is actualy higher than grads normally get.

Still, I want to go on my own, that is start and run my own business. So, here we go!

My options so far:

- Import and distribution of beauty industry supplies to Russia
- Cosmetics from the EU
- Massage rollers and stuff from China or the EU

My goals:

- Achieve a sizeable income by September
- Get free from my mom's grasp
- Use the money to: Fund my Master's and to purchase real estate in the EU\US\New Zealand by 2015.

I welcome any critical responses!

Gay rights in Russia

The world has been shocked by Russia’s new law, which effectively bans any public actions by St. Petersburg’s gay community. Many Westerners just can not understand, how a city, which claims to be the “gates of Europe” of the world’s largest country could pass a law, which seems so much against the modern idea of human rights.

Nevertheless, on March 7^th 2012, the law was signed by the Governor of St. Petersburg, which means, there are only a couple of days left, until it will be being enforced. So, how could this happen? In this article, we will try to answer this question from a political and language perspective.

Russian politics have always (for at least 200 years) been characterized as “acting despite the pressure”. Russia has always aimed at being a powerful player, somewhat, reinforcing its own independence by ignoring foreign advice and pressure. This was especially true in the soviet times, when the country was constantly preparing itself for confrontations with the West. We are using this to explain, why the parliament of St. Petersburg and the governor ignored international pressure. From their point of view, Western powers, always eager to spread their political influence, have been using international interest groups to pressure Russia. Russia, in its terms, has reacted to pressure as it always has: by ignoring it.

The entire concept of human rights has almost failed in modern-day Russia. It has failed politically after the 1990’s, when the so-called liberals and democrats promoted what is now called “the stealing, crushing and selling of our great country”. Millions lost their jobs and were pushed into a decade of poverty and uncertainty, crime flourished, population decreased. Anyway, for the majority of modern Russians, words like “liberalism” and “democracy” sound more like curses.

Finally, the popular attitude to gay people is quite negative. Decriminalization of 1993 did little to improve the situation. In particular, the Russian criminal culture places gay people into the lowest social position imaginable. In male prisons, gays must not be allowed to share food with fellow inmates, sleep on beds on which others sleep. There is no way to change this status, so a gay person in the Russian criminal culture is doomed. People are forced into being gay for serious offences, including rape of women and children. It is worth mentioning, that criminal culture is very influential in the modern Russian society.

The last, but not the least is that in modern Russian, pederasty and homosexuality are translated with just one word. So, it is clear, why the majority of population do not see any difference.

The new law is going to be popular. Similar initiatives have been proposed in several regions of Russia, as well as a federal law proposal.