News

Good

The traffic police don't know our needs well...
The heads of the traffic police said that they want to take into account Russian drinking traditions and allow drivers to limit the consumption of alcohol in the near future. The permissible level of alcohol in the blood will be 0.2 ppm (that is, 0.2 milligrams of 100 percent alcohol per liter of blood), and, most likely, it will already be taken into account in the new edition of the Code of the Russian Federation on Administrative Offenses, which is now being prepared for second reading in the Duma. The current law does not allow alcohol levels in the driver's blood at all. At the same time, the head of the State Traffic Safety Inspectorate, Lieutenant General Vladimir Fedorov, commenting on the future innovation, recalled that in different countries of the world this norm ranges from 0.2 to 0.6 ppm.
However, let us also remind you: the sensitivity threshold of “standard” tubes that inspectors use to determine the degree of intoxication of a driver is about 0.3 ppm, and in 40% of cases (according to doctors) this instrument is wrong. This is the first thing. And secondly, 0.2 ppm of alcohol is formed in the blood from approximately 100-150 grams of beer drunk. So, maybe it’s still worth taking into account Russian drinking traditions?

...and your capabilities
The traffic police also promises to simplify the passing of driving tests. The existing methodology was introduced only at the end of last year, and it is noticeably more complex than those used before: many new mandatory exercises have been added. But it turned out that the traffic police did not calculate its strength. Now it takes one person 40-50 minutes to take the exam, and with the current influx of people wanting to get a license, examiners simply don’t have time to test everyone. That’s why by the end of the year everything will return to normal.

Bad

Minimum assortment
The State Duma adopted the law “On the consumer basket” in the first reading. You can’t look at the daily ration drawn up by the government without tears. An adult is offered 88 grams of meat or sausage, 33 grams of margarine, half a liter of milk, half an egg, two potatoes and three to four candies per day. And for pensioners, according to the authorities, even 2/3 of this set will be enough. To calm people down, they take a little validol and valerian.
This food ration is based on the subsistence level - 717 rubles per person per month. According to deputies, this consumer basket is the poverty line, below which normal human life becomes impossible. But they said the same thing about the previous consumer basket, adopted in November last year. And there the diet was richer.

Registration is disguised
The Moscow City Internal Affairs Directorate has introduced new rules for registering citizens at their place of stay and residence. According to the police, these are the most democratic registration rules in Moscow in recent times. But a simple comparison of these rules and decisions of the Constitutional Court leads to the conclusion: the Moscow authorities once again want to fool the citizens.
Thus, they say that registration in Moscow is now solely for notification purposes. It is not true. The fact is that a separate “List of documents has appeared that are the basis for moving citizens into residential premises in Moscow and the Moscow region, provided by housing authorities to the registration authorities.” And this list contains direct references to the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, the Housing Code of the RSFSR and the Family Code of the Russian Federation, that is, to the notorious maximum 6 months of temporary residence and the living standard of 12 meters per person for moving into a room.
There are other innovations in the rules. “Close relatives” have been added to minor children, spouses and disabled parents who are not subject to the “living space standard”. It seems like a relaxation. But it is immediately clarified: not just “close relatives,” but only “registered at their place of residence in Moscow or the region.” Meanwhile, not a single code links a person’s moving into an apartment with the presence or absence of registration. And again, we are talking only about close relatives. Nephews, uncles, aunts and brothers-in-law, and even more so just friends and acquaintances, can rest, that is, their right to freedom of movement is limited. This means that Moscow continues to violate the law “On the Right of Citizens to Freedom of Movement,” the Constitution and the decision of the Constitutional Court.
One piece of advice can be given to anyone who has been denied registration: immediately after receiving a refusal at the police station, bypassing the passport department of the Moscow Main Internal Affairs Directorate, go to court. Which you will definitely win - if not the district, then the city.

The border is locked... on the other side
Many former comrades in the socialist bloc intend to introduce a visa regime for Russians. Our neighbors in the USSR are also not lagging behind (in the last issue of the magazine we talked about the introduction of visas for travel to Turkmenistan). From December 1, it will be impossible to enter Slovenia without a visa. And this is just the beginning.
In the coming years, a visa regime will inevitably appear in the most visited countries of Eastern Europe - the Czech Republic, Poland and Hungary. This is a necessary condition for their entry into the European Union. And the first steps have already been taken on this path. Thus, from January 1 of this year, Russian citizens entering Poland are required to provide written confirmation that they have at least $150 with them. Poland may soon cancel the so-called vouchers, thanks to which Russian shuttle traders have the opportunity to visit Polish flea markets without a visa.

Let's catch up and overtake Poland
Experts from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) have revised their approaches to assessing which country in the world has the highest standard of living. They admitted that they used to calculate the lucky ones too simply: by dividing the gross domestic product (GDP) by the number of people in the country. This year, research was carried out taking into account the price level for hundreds of goods and services, real incomes of the population (after taxes), and the purchasing value of national currencies.
And this approach greatly changed the balance of power. The richest people in the world turned out to be residents of Luxembourg (160 points; 100 points was taken as the average standard of living in the 30 most developed European countries). In second place are the former leaders - residents of the United States (140 points). This is followed by the Norwegians (128 points), the Swiss (126) and the Japanese (121). It also turned out that, for example, the Germans and French (traditionally ranked among the richest) live poorer than the Danes, Canadians and Belgians and are only slightly ahead of the Italians in wealth.
The position of Russian citizens, as one would expect, unfortunately does not depend on the calculation method: we are at the very end of the list (consisting of 62 countries of the world). With our 34 points, we were twice as poor as the Czechs (67 points). The only consolation is that they were only one point behind the Poles.

Magazine "Kommersant Money" No. 24 dated June 23, 1999, p. 7

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