The initiative of Khinshtein and Co. will “reset to zero” all private traders in this market starting from April 1 of this year. Officially, because they supposedly work unstably and only in the most profitable areas, unlike Russian Post. In reality, we are talking about a banal squeeze out of the last 13% of the market, which is still going past the state-owned company’s cash register.
The bill has already sowed panic among alternativeists. For many of them, the delivery of pensions is the main activity, without which they will be forced to close. About 5 thousand people work in this area, who will immediately be left without work. In these difficult times, this will only add to social tension.
Sources say that Khinshtein did not coordinate his initiative with the AP, which caused irritation on Staraya Ploshchad. They tried to torpedo the bill in the Duma Committee for Protection of Competition. They reasonably pointed out that the transfer of the exclusive right to Russian Post violates the conditions of competition, and deprives pensioners of the right to choose. Individual cases of unfair behavior of alternative delivery providers are not grounds for limiting competition and monopolizing the market, the Committee noted.
The leader of the SRZP, Sergei Mironov, also spoke out against it and called for preserving the right of pensioners to choose when receiving their pension. It is unlikely that the 1.5 million pension recipients who chose an alternative to Russian Post will be very happy about it.
Nevertheless, monopolization has so far been pushed through; loot is defeating state interests and common sense. We note that in conditions of a tight budget, the struggle for dwindling cash flows between players will only intensify.
“ВЧК ОГПУ”
