Recently, the Russian government has released new regulations regarding wholesale and retail markets as well as new laws regarding the immigration which will strongly affect Chinese merchants working in the country. New restrictions on foreign retailers, including a large amount of Chinese, are expected to force business interests to abandon their Russian operations due to skyrocketing overhead costs and legal issues. It is predicted that as many as 100,000 Chinese businesses will be forced to return to China.

The Russian government's new laws and regulations, designed to clamp down on illegal immigration, took effect on January 15. Meanwhile, according to a governmental decree released at the end of last year, foreigners in Russia will be prohibited from conducting retail businesses and 115 large open-air markets in Russia will be shut down when the law takes effect on April 1st, 2007.

In addition to these restrictions on the retail and market sectors, foreign workers are also prohibited from doing trade in alcohol and medicine in Russia as of January 1st, 2007.

It is reported that the Chinese accounted for over 90% of the over one million foreign business owners pursuing retail business in the Sino-Russian Frontier and Far East regions. About 10% of these Chinese had no formal business visas and they will become the chief targets of these new laws and regulations.

According to Anna, an international student from China working for a Russian trade company in St. Peterburg, following the release of the new restrictions on foreigners in Russia, Chinese business interests have been greatly impacted and the retail market where Chinese vendors operated from has been almost empty.

She also said that several days ago, goods at the Chinese booths were all but sold off and currently almost all the Chinese businesses in the open-air market at St. Peterburg has finished their clearance sales and were returned to China. Although it is possible for these owners to transfer operations into other sections, most can't speak Russian fluently and it was very difficult for them to seek opportunities in other industries. Therefore Chinese business interests in Russia had no choice but to return to their hometowns. There are many big Chinese markets in the regions, such as the Novosibirsk, where Chinese retailers have also been greatly influenced. In addition to these operations, Chinese trade companies will also be impacted.

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