Putin Wrote Press-Release for Russia, the CIS and All Mankind

Putin published on the occasion text in "Izvestiya": Uniform economic space of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan will start functioning from January, 1st, 2012. Text genre - something in between press release and the draft of the performance, without some publicistic quirks of Stalin, Trotsky or late Brezhnev. Now we can equal Putin to classics of a genre. Why not? He aviated, dived, tamed a tiger... Now it is time to write something great. Here you are. Seriously, not in some Twitter.

In general the essence of the text is to let people know that uniform space is good and it's beyond me how we used to live without it before including gloomy times of the USSR:

"Removal of migratory, boundary and other barriers, so-called "labor quotas" will mean for people possibility to choose where to live, receive education, to work without any restrictions. By the way, there was no such freedom in the USSR - with its institute of official residential registration.

Besides, we considerably increase volume of the goods for personal consumption which can be imported duty-free, thereby relieving people of humiliating checks on customs posts".

If someone thinks that since January, 1st he will be given free pass through the borders which appeared after disintegration of the USSR, he makes mistake - that's for prospect.

It is pleasant that Putin recognizes customs inspections - humiliating. Though he didn't hasten to relieve citizens of this humiliation for some reason during his first 2 terms of presidency, as well as during the period of his being prime minister. After all there's no need to form any unions for this purpose, it's enough just to regulate work of customs bodies - and strictly to supervise following these regulations.

After all since the very first day of creation of the CIS we have visa-free mode. Visa-free - doesn't mean without problem - that's the reason. Why at crossing of visa-free border with Ukraine (by the way, it's not included into new Putin's union) citizens of Russia have more problems being in the Russian territory, than in the Ukrainian? It happens not only at departure but also at return entrance which theoretically should pass in general absolutely freely if to trust to the articles of the Constitution.

The answer is very simple: on internal borders of the CIS absolutely corruption syndicates pumping out money from the passers-by appeared. These syndicates are dressed in the form of customs officers and frontier guards but they don't have functions of protection of the states - simply there's nobody there to be protected and there's nobody from whom to protect. Their main purpose - bribe collection as in the Middle Ages on cordons between princedoms. It's impossible to abolish these syndicates by contracts and decrees.

I am sure that if simply, even unilaterally, to take all cordons from the border, say, with Ukraine, away, losses for economy will be non-comparable to today's losses which are born by people and organizations thanks to existence of boundary obstacles. Aсtually the driver of the truck who managed at absolutely free road to cross boundary cordons during one night, considers himself lucky man! Because it is possible to loose a week - even moving empty.

Businessmen are compelled to include "corruption tax" in the coast of cargoes and transport at every crossing of "visa-free" borders. The consumer then pays for it. The whole business on "customs clearance" of cargoes, entirely constructed on corruption communications appeared.

Whether Putin doesn't know about it?

He tells us horror stories about system in the USSR: residential registration say strongly complicated life of citizens.

Vladimir Vladimirovich, probably, kiddies who simply don't know other life, will believe you. While we used to live the biggest part of life in the USSR where it was not necessary at all to have passport with you. It was possible simply to buy ticket - and go to any point of the Soviet Union. Do you remember:

My address is not the house and the street,

My address is the Soviet Union...

Yes, residential registration was required, including at employment - for a permanent job, let's note. Temporary job didn't required residential registration, even temporal. Though temporal registration was automatically (you didn't evn notice it) made simply at checking into hotel. Of course there was no problem to come to some place, to live for some time there.

I don't mention here that residential registration was the major tool of guaranteeing of a right to housing, let's note, registered in the Constitution of the USSR. That is absence of habitation and, accordingly, residential registration was first of all state problem, not of the citizen.

Unfortunately, we want live and get modernized to have it again - after all V.V.Putin is going to occupy the top of imperious pyramid for at least 12 years. Then some successor will appear in time. Owing to it we instead of enjoining freedom of choice where to live, freedom to move at least in the territory of own country and its vicinities, not speaking about set of other freedoms will read pre-election press releases from the heads in "Izvestiya".

Circulation of earlier great newspaper recently, by the way, evicted even from historical premise, shows how these releases are interesting to us.

Anatoly Baranov, editor-in-chief of FORUM.msk

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