| Cruella Deville-skaya |
6 October 2003
|
Russian Utilities to Kidnap Pets
Russia's stock market hit a new nigh last week, and the country is a long way from the ruble crisis that wrecked the late 1990s for everyone. However, the former comrades still have a way to go in the simple matter of bill collecting. Nikolai Tkachev, chief of electricity company Dalenergo in the Far East, has announced a plan whereby those who don't pay their electricity bills may have their pets kidnapped and held for ransom.
In actuality, under Russian (and most other nation's laws) pets are considered property and can be seized in the event debts are too hard to collect. And ransom isn't exactly the right word for paying a debt. Still, there is an almost blood-thirsty tone to Mr. Tkachev's words "We will take their nearest and dearest - their pets."
The trouble is that back when Russians were Soviets, electricity, water, rent and a great many other things were not something one paid for. They just sort of appeared with some regularity. The habit of not paying is deeply ingrained in the Russian economy. According to a BBC report, even those who have the cash, the well-off, "sometimes just can't be bothered to queue up to pay the bill."
Indeed, there is another problem -- queuing up to pay a bill? When it was meat, or shoes, or ten-penny nails, queuing was an honored Soviet necessity. Standing in a line to give someone else money is bad enough, but to queue up to pay for something one normally thinks of as being free is beyond appalling. Is there no mail service? Cannot bills be sent? Are there not banks with computers? Cannot payment be made by phone or ATM card? Doesn't Visa or Mastercard work there?
Russia has made great strides in the years since the unmourned death of communism, but as Mr. Tkachev knows all too well, a little more needs to be done in building a Russian market economy.
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