The plight of the Russian entrepreneur

U.S. National Public Radio has a five minute segment today on the challenges Russian small businesses face in an environment that favours government-dependent organisations:

Not a lot of shockers in here, but just thought I’d draw attention to a couple of things the report highlights:

• Getting a license to open a business should cost about $50 but can easily add up to tens of thousands of dollars due to bribes
• Banks have to turn away potential borrowers because the banks lack the necessary expertise to evaluate the sustainability of a potential borrower’s revenue model.

How is this defensible?