The modern Russia has a massive bureaucracy. It actually became a class of its own, with higher than average wages and abilities to maintain a good lifestyle.

Many Russian bureaucrats own properties abroad, although their wages wouldn’t be enough to do it. Apparently, there is a lot of money in processing permits and allowing access.

Bureaucracy in Russia

Running a business in Russia isn’t as easy as in your home country, if you live in a developed western economy. There are too many controlling organizations, from fire service to sanitary inspection, which have to sign off all buildings as meeting the standards.

The problem is, as the rumour goes, it’s impossible to simply get the permits by meeting the standards, without a bribe. As the result, entrepreneurs cut corners on compliance, because they anyway have to pay the bribe and it becomes too expensive to do both.

There is a story that when Swedish giant IKEA went to Russia to set up stores, they set the policy that no bribes can be paid to officials. However, several years later the top management discovered that bribes had been paid by local managers, simply because nothing can be done without it.

Newly appointed bureaucrats have to become part of the system and share proceeds of their collections with the higher ranks. So, if one wanted to work transparently, they wouldn’t be able to do it anyway.

The level of small entrepreneurship in Russia is nearly non-existent because of these issues.

Russian women who marry foreigners are surprised how easy it is to start and manage a business in other countries. Even a girl can do it! But in Russia, business it a man’s world, and unless a female has some powerful connections, it’s hard.

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• Half of Russians earn less than USD 540 per month
• Is it possible for me to meet a good Russian woman for marriage?