Preobrazhensky Market

The following article appeared in the Moscow Times. It talks about the market which is just around the corner of my house. The Russian government is cracking down on foreign workers in the retail sector. President Putin himself has declared that Russia needs to protect its workers and has thus enacted a decree that bans foreign workers in many different parts of the retail sector. Some argue that this move is also connected to the conflict with Georgia, as a lot of Georgians workED in this sector. Most of them have been kicked out of the country.

Recent developments suggest Putin has decided to increase the state intervention in the economy after the 'gangster capitalism' of the 90s. There are plans to reinstate the state monopoly on alcohol which was abolished by Gorbatsjov in the middle of the 80s (and was claimed to be one of the reasons of the demise of the Soviet Union). I am not sure whether this would necessarily be a good thing. Sure, alcoholism is a big problem in Russia, but I am unsure whether a state monopoly would solve anything. People would start drinking even more of the so called Moonshine or Samogan (homemade alcohol) and the stuff sold at pharmacies here that is practically pure alcohol.

City's Markets Losing Foreign AccentBy David Nowak and Maria Levitov Staff Writers

Vladimir Filonov / MT
A woman selling cabbages on Thursday in a section of Moscow's Preobrazhensky Market that is reserved for Russian farmers who sell their own produce.

Russian farmers are flocking to Preobrazhensky Market in northeast Moscow, filling stalls where foreign vendors used to hawk their produce.
The farmers are coming in response to the government's ongoing effort to rid the country's markets and kiosks of foreign workers by April 1.
And Preobrazhensky Market is having trouble keeping up with demand, said Nikolai, the market's director of sales, who declined to give his last name.
Lyudmila, 38, a trader from Tambov who also declined to give her last name, travels to the market roughly once a month to sell carrots, potatoes, beets and cabbage.
Although Tambov is some 500 kilometers southeast of Moscow, Lyudmila said she could make twice as much selling her vegetables in Moscow than at smaller markets in Tambov. Her carrots sell for 8 rubles (30 cents) per kilogram in Tambov, but the price in Moscow is 15 rubles.
"It's very far, and I don't like to travel such a distance," she said. "But our family income has doubled."
Nikolai said Russian farmers should have been given preferential treatment long ago. "For me, this quota law is too late coming," he said.
Preobrazhensky was not raided by police like so many other markets in the city, Nikolai said. "We had a few Georgians," he said. "But everything was handled very politely."
Signs on three of the market's outdoor pavilions read: "Stalls for private farmers."
"Everyone knows what that means: Just for Russians," Nikolai said.
Preobrazhensky appears to be an exception to the rule, however. Other produce markets in the city have been unable to replace evicted foreign traders.
Some Moscow markets are filled to just between 20 percent and 40 percent of capacity as they wait for Russian vendors to move in, said Vladimir Malyshkov, head of the City Hall department for retail markets and services.
Several stalls at a small, covered market near the Belorusskaya metro station were standing empty Thursday as the result of the city's new quota system, under which half of all stalls in produce markets are reserved for Russian farmers.
A Tajik fruit seller in an adjacent stall said he knew Azeri vendors who wanted to fill the empty slots but who had been turned down.
"Russians don't like this kind of work. It's too hard," said the vendor, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he feared retribution from the market's owners.
Despite such mixed success at the city level, the federal government is pushing ahead with tough new regulations on foreign workers.
Earlier this month, Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov signed a decree that imposed a total ban on foreign vendors in all markets, kiosks and other small retail outlets as of April 1 next year.
While some food vendors will remain until next April, foreigners will be banned from the retail trade in pharmaceuticals and alcohol Jan. 1, 2007.
During a transition period from Jan. 15 to April 1, the share of foreigners in small retail outlets is set to fall to 40 percent, Fradkov told President Vladimir Putin during a meeting at the president's Novo-Ogaryovo residence last week. The transcript of their meeting was posted on the Kremlin's official web site.
Fradkov said some changes could be made to the new regulations after 2007 if the lack of migrant workers resulted in labor shortages.
Putin told Fradkov that he saw no reason to amend the decree down the line.
"This is not a sector of the economy where we have a labor shortage," Putin said.
Malyshkov, of the city's department for retail markets and services, told a different story. He said Moscow would have trouble filling vacancies in the retail sector without migrant workers.
"I shudder to think what would happen if the Georgians, Tajiks, Uzbeks and Azeris leave this sector," Malyshkov said.
Roughly one-quarter of the city's work force -- 1.47 million people -- are currently employed in the retail sector, he said. But there is already a deficit of 60,000 workers in low-paid, physically demanding retail jobs, he said.
Preobrazhensky Market still employs traders from Central Asia, who often act as middlemen, Nikolai the director said.
The small merchants buy fruits and vegetables from producers at various points in the city, bring them to the market and sell them. Some Russian traders do the same, he said.
Malyshkov said wholesalers, who buy agricultural products in the countryside and supply retailers, are essential in major cities like Moscow. Few farmers have the time to make the journey to markets in the city and to obtain all the required health permits to sell their produce, he said.
"Farmers don't have time to drive to the markets. That's not their job. Their job is to plant, to plow and to milk cows," he said.
Malyshkov said it was unrealistic to assume that farmers would replace all of the middlemen who currently provide the city with food, many of whom come from the South Caucasus or Central Asia.
"These vendors should be allowed to legalize their status and come back to trade," Malyshkov said.

Commenting

I noticed that only registered users could comment on my blog, so I have now changed this so that anyone can.

Another one bites the dust?

Question: What do Alexander Litvinko, Sergei Yushenkov, Paul Klebnikov, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, and Anna Politkovskaya have in common?

Answer: All were made to pay for their vocal opposition to Putin or other powerful Russian interests.

On the day that Russia and the US concluded their bilateral negotiations on Russia's accession to the WTO, news emerged from London that the former FSB colonel Alexander Litvinko is fighting for his life in a London hospital. Litvinko was apparently poisoned after meeting a contact for his research on the murder of Anna Politkovskaya. The former KGB spy Litvinko fled to the UK six years ago and recently acquired British citizenship. His poisoning fits into a long history of attempts by the Russian government to shut down any critics of Putin and his government.

Sergei Yushenkov, leader of the small Liberal Russia party, was shot dead in April 2003. He lobbied against the military campaign in Chechnya and investigated allegations that a spate of apartment blocks bombings in 1999 was not the work of Chechen terrorists, but rather the work of the authorities to secure support for the second military campaign in Chechnya.

Paul Klebnikov was shot dead in June 2004 in what looked like a contract killing. His murder was probably linked to his work on Russian business, most notably the book 'Godfather of the Kremlin: The Decline of Russia in the Age of Gangster Capitalism' in which he described the murky dealings of Berezovsky, a former member of Russia's oligarchy.

The cases of Khodorkovsky and Politkovskaya need no further explanation I believe. These murders, coupled with a number of other developments suggest that democracy like we know it in the West is still far from established in Russia. A recent law on NGOs has severely limited the freedom of maneuver, the press is practically all owned by pro-state companies and the State Duma is looking increasingly like a rubber stamping institution.

I believe two points can be made about the state of democracy in Russia. First of all, should we really expect (and want) a Western-like democracy in Russia. After all, Russia has a long history of autocratic regimes dating back to at least the reign of the first Russian czar Ivan IV (1547–1584). Also, opinion polls suggest that the Russian people are far from unequivocal in their support of democracy. A large part asks for a strong state in the tradition of 'Father Czar', something which Putin is giving them.

Secondly, the role of the West in supporting democracy in Russia is ambigious to say the least. Condoleeza Rice met with relatives of Ms. Politkovskaya during her visit to Russia recently and was quick to condemn the murder. Yet this did not stop the US and Russia from agreeing on Russia's membership to the WTO. 'Larger' stakes play a role here. The West needs the support of Russia to stand any chance of resolving the North Korea crisis. And of course, Russia's large gas and oil reserves give it a powerful lever in international politics.

Week 4

The week started well with Monday being a day off as it was the Day of the Defenders of the Fatherland. This is the day Russia recognises those men and women that serve in the armed forces. I went to Kolominskaya park with Ilya. This is the site where the czar used to have his summer residence. Not much is left, but the park still has a church from the 16^th century, which is on the UNESCO World Heritage Sites list and the house Peter the Great lived in when overlooking the construction of the fort in St. Petersburg.

During the week it was pretty quiet at the office as Katya and Polina were away on holidays. Jeroen was ill all week, so that meant there were some empty desks. With Katya away, this left me to work on the initial research for the second project. It is coming along nicely, so we should be able to send of the initial market scan by the end of next week. No reply about the first project yet, so we have to wait and see about that. I had a quick chat with Jeroen about the first month and they seemed satisfied with me. We had pizza and beer on Friday afternoon, which was a good end to the week.

I also had three Russian classes in which I finally made an attempt to grasp the tricky Russian grammar (which is comparable to the German one with its six declinations). Made some good progress so am pleased about that.

Also, I met Alexey on Wednesday for dinner at an Uzbek restaurant. I know Alexey through Vladimir and it was great to meet up with him again. He had been travelling around Central Asia recently and had some good stories to tell. The food was also pretty good, so all in all an enjoyable evening. I went out on Friday night to some nightclub called Jumanjii with Ilya, Sasha and their friends which was a good laugh. Drank a couple of shots of my favourite Russian vodka (Russkii Standart Platinum) and messed around on the dancefloor. The weekend has been quiet, mostly relaxing. Went for dinner at a Ukrainian restaurant with Yegor, Sergey, Jason, George and a couple of other guys. Had tasty food and got to know the Ukrainian version of moonshine called garilka (60% and a peppery flavour).

Week 2 and 3

I think it’s sensible to put the second and third week together as I have sort of forgotten what happened when. I will just go through some ‘highlights’ to give you an idea of what I have been up to. Workwise, it would have to be my first official work meeting outside the office. We met with a representative of the firm for which we are doing the project I am working on. The project I am working on involves a Dutch company that wants to acquire a Russian firm in order to expand its position on the Russian market. We discussed the progress of the project and the list of possible target companies we had identified as being of interest for a possible takeover. Not any life-changing experience, but still a ‘first’ for me. After the meeting, I started calling the companies to get some more information on them. This gave for some interesting responses, ranging from simply rude to very forthcoming. Another interesting event at work was the office meeting we had in which I got a good overview of what projects everybody is working on and some of the future projects.

I also met Vladimir, whom I stayed with when I was in Moscow two years ago. It was great to see him, although it also had a sad touch to it. Vladimir’s mum died five months ago of a heart attack and this clearly (and understandably) has caused much sorrow for him. I will never forget how well she looked after me when I was staying with the family and it’s a great shame I never got to see her again. But despite this, it was great to catch up with him!!!

I have also had my share of fun nights out in Moscow so far. Ilya and Sasha have been great in getting me involved in their social life and they have a fun bunch of friends. I get to savour the real Russian way of going out which ranges from standing outside in the freezing cold drinking to the more ‘normal’ bars and clubs. It’s also good for my Russian of course to be among Russian speakers. The guys at the office are also always ready to go out for a pint or food, which is great to get to know them a little better.

And finally, I went to the market with Ilya, Sasha and their mum. I hadn’t seen a Russian market before and it is quiet something. You can buy literally everything and the products are a lot fresher and cheaper than in the supermarkets. It reminded me again that by staying with a Russian family I really get to know the Russian way of life, which is great!