COMMERCE….

German Gref, once the head of Vladimir Putin’s private think-tank and now the minister for economic development, had a plan to encourage entrepreneurship and reduce corruption. He proposed to cut the number of business activities requiring state licenses by about 85 percent, from 340 to forty or fifty. Putin backed the idea in his “state of the nation” address. But the bill the Kremlin is sending to the Duma doesn’t meet that target. It leaves over 100 business activities still controlled, and it apparently would tighten regulation in communications. And the long knives are out to slice up what’s left. Bureaucrats and businessmen inside the regulatory wall are teaming to lobby against changes that could put both groups at risk.