RUSSIAN MARKET DISINTEGRATES?

When we talk about protectionism, we usually think about countries protecting their internal markets, not regions. But in Russia, regional governments are taking actions threatening its market unity. Nezavisimaya Gazeta reports:

The crisis has dealt a blow to the country's unified economic space. Seeking to plug the growing holes in their regional budgets, the authorities in the constituent parts of the Russian Federation have turned to the prescriptions of the mid 1990s, when the regions closed off their markets to goods from neighboring oblasts and (internal) republics, all but setting up regional customs offices.

So far the emphasis has been placed on items that account for the biggest share the budget. Twenty-two regions of the country have, to some extent, restricted access to their alcohol markets for goods from non-local producers. Meanwhile, the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS), which was created to prevent such violations, so far plans to institute administrative proceedings against just two of the offending regions: Tatarstan and Krasnodar Kray.