Translated material
Alcohol wars
If just recently the average Russian, when asked what he knows about Kabardino-Balkaria, would probably name Elbrus, and even some of the local attractions, today it would probably be a couple of local alcohol brands. Once, one of the natives of the republic, studying in Moscow, told how he witnessed a funny situation when three homeless people, sending their friend to the nearest kiosk for a coveted bottle, shouted after him: “Just don’t take the Veles. It’s scorched.”
It is no secret that today the bulk of shadow alcohol and vodka comes from the Caucasus. There are plenty of cunning businessmen in the field of alcoholic beverages in all the republics of the North Caucasus, with the exception of Chechnya, where there is a governing taboo on this type of business. However, even in this muddy sea of bottling, Kabardino-Balkaria is confidently taking the first position, developing more and more new sales markets in Russian regions. We have already reached, as they say, all the way to the outskirts.
Here is what, for example, Khakassian (!) journalists write about this: “In Khakassia, as in other Russian regions, the alcohol market is captured, covered and divided. The “Five” who hold it are trying to maintain control as best they can, not disdaining everything the same counterfeit, but the dashing Kabardians don’t care about such opposition. They are unrealistically conquering the market by dumping prices on vodka, which, by the way, they have in stock and at very low prices. For example, “Five Lakes” costs 100-110 rubles per Kabardian representatives. bottle, the average price in stores is 190-200 rubles, “Parliament” from visiting traders is 120-130 rubles, but on the shelves the price for this brand reaches 300 rubles. So draw your conclusions, gentlemen!
Both one and the other, by and large, don’t give a damn about the people. Both need to earn money not only for themselves, but also to support the “army of officials” lobbying the interests of alcohol dealers.
The alcohol war between representatives - wholesalers from alcohol campaigns in Khakassia and representatives of the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic has reached its climax. Both want to sell counterfeit alcohol, which is essentially what is happening. Representatives of the KBR chose the tactic of selling alcohol through small shops, the owners of which themselves affix the quality mark of the Khakass Alcohol Association. These printed products are not in short supply; they are a bonus for illegal alcohol shipments. And for some, for example, in remote settlements, any sticker like a tax stamp is enough. Previously, wholesalers themselves did not disdain vodka from CBD, but the latter realized that they could enter the alcohol market of Khakassia without intermediaries and with a lot of profit, especially since the Khakassian Alcohol Association does not seem to conduct proper testing of alcohol for quality and quality guarantee stamps are not available problem".
In Kabardino-Balkaria today there are dozens of alcohol production facilities, and hundreds more operate illegally. In the 90s, there were villages in the republic where counterfeit goods were illegally bottled in almost every second yard. Today, such singles have been squeezed out of business by large local monopolists, who control the situation. In the alcoholic vodka market of the republic, monetary, political, and inter-clan relations are closely intertwined, as if in a distorting mirror, all the values and vices of society are reflected.
In the republic, a kind of alcohol vertical has long and steadily developed, patronizing “its” alcohol barons.
The problems of the alcohol industry are inseparable from the problem of local authorities as a whole; the current situation is characterized by a tendency for authorities to appoint “their people” locally and lobbying for the interests of business structures at the top of the government vertical.
Moreover, this vertical is like a hydra with several heads, jealously watching its competitors and harshly dealing with them on occasion. There is a lot of money in the alcohol business of the republic, but a good half of the production capacity does not work in the interests of the republic, using all sorts of schemes to evade the tax base, since the cost of vodka production is 90% taxes and excise taxes.
In addition, returning stolen funds to the budget is not so easy. But recently everyone was surprised by the news - the government of Kabardino-Balkaria approved the draft law of the republic “On measures of state support for organizations producing alcoholic products”, regulating the provision of state support to alcohol-producing organizations in the form of subsidies depending on the amount of excise taxes paid by them to the republican budget. The following official figures are cited: in 2012, the volume of excise taxes on alcohol was planned at 2 billion 22 million rubles, and 1 billion went to the budget. After analyzing the activities of 12 alcohol-producing companies, the authors of the document came to the conclusion that the amount of excise taxes that they can pay , is about 5.9 billion rubles. If producers are paid 3 billion rubles as subsidies, the budget will receive 2.9 billion.
That's it, gentlemen.
Our “poor” vodka producers are entitled to a subsidy. Yes, you heard right. Not for families who barely make ends meet, not for the fight against terrorism, not for salaries of state employees. No, what are you saying, they are asking for additional funds from the federal budget to pay state employees. But in our republic we have money to help alcohol producers. Alas, there are.