Made in Russia?

Nearly every day I find something in Russian culture that amuses me. Or should I say, “bemuses” me? There are so many things that just seem crazy to me and that I cannot explain. Perhaps I will be able to explain these things to myself eventually, but by then I will have a hard time explaining them to an Australian or a Canadian because I will have become a different person.

The Russian government are very busy making laws at present. A number of new changes came in on July 1st. Bit by bit I am discovering these changes and how they may affect our lives in our new home. One of them was good: mobile/ cell phone users no longer have to pay to receive calls. So we may still consider getting mobiles, so far we have not perceived a need.

The most notorious law that came in on July 1st was connected with alcohol. Russians have a very strange relationship with alcohol. Any product that contains 1.5% alcohol or higher now needs special licensing to be imported.

On the whole it is true to say that many Russians do not know how to drink without getting drunk- Alcoholism is a very serious problem in Russia. (I know this from hearing many drunks having VERY LOUD arguments outside our building at 2:30 in the morning. But I do have Russian friends in Krasnoyarsk who are very responsible with their alcohol.) You perhaps may have read the story of the Ket people we sent out recently, who are even more alcoholic than the average Russian. (If you haven’t then email us).
Gorbachev tried to do something about alcoholism in 1985. He banned alcohol all together. It’s hard to believe that Russia had a prohibition period, when they love their drink so much. It was short lived, and there was a thriving black market during that time anyway.
As one with a linguistic bent I can never escape the root meaning of a word. The word “vodka” in Russian has the same root as the word “water.” Water in Russian is “voda.” The Russian language is full of diminutive forms for words; eg- in English we may add a “y” to a word to make it “cute”- our little girl is fascinated by birds and has learnt to say the word “birdy” very quickly. The Russian language does this in many ways, with a “chik” ending or a “shka” ending etc. Vodka is an example of this; it literally means “little water.” This may not be what a person thinks when they read it, but I maintain it underlines how central it is to Russian culture.
So on July 1st a new law came in that requires new licensing and registrations for all products that contain 1.5% alcohol or higher. In the 1985 prohibition days alcohol was banned. This meant that colognes and perfumes were banned too. In 2006 it works a little differently. After July 1st all imported wines disappeared from the shelves. This most notably effected Moldova and Georgia who normally import a lot of wines in to Russia. Before this law I had even noticed an Australian bottle of red on the shelf, now the shelves are devoid of all wine. There is vodka and beer to boot though. In reading news articles about this, I have discovered that there is an extension that can be granted to gain the new license required to import alcohol. I can only surmise that this law has only affected imports, but not Russian made products (i.e. There is plenty of Russian made vodka and beer but very little Russian made wine.)
I cannot see the direct reasoning for this new law. The government says that products need to be licensed (a stamp needs to be on every bottle) to prevent illegal bootleg products. To me it just appears to be a means of restricting imports for some months in the hope it will give Russian made products a niche in the market (if they exist).

This raises a very curious deficiency in Russia- manufacturing. To quote the “World Fact Book” (put together by a well know American intelligence agency)- “Russia's manufacturing base is dilapidated and must be replaced or modernized if the country is to achieve broad-based economic growth.” There are very many products that are simply not manufactured in Russia at all. Sometimes I am not sure if this is because Russians simply prefer not to buy Russian made products or if it is because factories and machinery have not been upgraded in a long time and Russia therefore has fallen behind as a result.
Russians joke about products that are made in Russia. If something breaks and it is made in Russia they will not hesitate to highlight this fact and have a laugh about it. Whether it is circular or not, Russians prefer to buy imported products as they trust the quality more.
Russia still manufactures cars, but perhaps the days are numbered in this industry too. Ford and Toyota are both setting up factories in St Petersburg. Some economists have predicted that this will put companies such as Lada and Volga out of business.

The alcohol licensing law has also affected cosmetics. Any product that contains 1.5% or higher alcohol requires new licensing to be imported into the country after July 1st. Many products have this content including the all-important product: deodorant. Not one foreign cosmetic company has been able to get this new license yet. It is not as if they have not tried either, but the bureaucracy has slowed the applications down.
Here’s the bemusing fact. As far as I can tell from the shelves- all deodorant is imported! No deodorant imports have been allowed since July 1st. What ever is left on the shelves is stock that will run out. With this is mind I went out and bought a year’s supply of deodorant for our family- having been warned in the media of “soviet-era shortages.” (moscowtimes.ru)

Recently the lamp in our bedroom came away from the ceiling and was hanging by wires only. Thankfully our friend Hector rescued us and helped us put in a new light fitting (he was an electrician in Argentina). I thought that the previous work was perhaps shoddy, as maybe the former resident had done it. (He left some strange contraptions lying around the place). Once again I was bemused to find out that a paid electrician had done the work (made in Russia).

So we have our year’s supply of deodorant. We will vigilantly keep on eye on our place that things do not fall apart. I still haven’t been able to buy that bottle of Australian red. Never fear the only products that are made in Russia- beer and vodka will never dry up, and for this the Russian public is eternally graysh-foool (hiccup).