Aren Russians poor?
This is one of the major misconceptions about the Russian market. One can hardly argue that the Russian economy is in good shape, but it is not nearly as bad as the ‘official statistics’ make out. In the past few years, the economy quickly split into two parts: that part which was active in the market economy, and that part which remained tied to the old economic activities. While the latter has/had monthly wages in the range of $35-100, the former did far, far better. While the percentage of the population engaged in the ‘market sector’ is constantly growing, it is still rather small, amounting to several million people. Furthermore, these tended to be concentrated in Moscow, St.Petersburg and the other major cities. Even in the times of “crisis”, a visit to Moscow could confirm that there is little shortage of disposable income for at least this sector of the population.
