KRASNODAR REGION TO IGNORE MOSCOW DECREE ON ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES.

Having concluded that Moscow’s recent decree on licensingthe production and distribution of alcoholic beverages was pushingthe local wine industry toward bankruptcy, officials in Krasnodarkray said they would unilaterally suspend the decree for theirregion, Segodnya reported August 3. Such a step is notunique, but it does underline the difficulties Moscow is facingin imposing its will on even relatively minor matters in the Russianprovinces.

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