Putin’s Latest Tax Reform May Deprive Russians in Rural Areas of Pharmacies, Their Last Source of Medical Assistance

Paul Goble

            Staunton, Dec. 1 – In the name of “optimization,” the Putin regime has closed hospitals and medical points in many rural areas, arguing that there simply aren’t enough people served there to justify the state’s maintenance of these facilities. Now a Putin tax reform may deprive rural residents of their last source of medical assistance, the pharmacies.

            At the end of November, the Kremlin leader signed into law new requirements that small businesses pay VAT at much lower thresholds than in the past and hire bookkeeping staff to ensure that that all taxes owed are paid (moscowtimes.ru/2025/12/01/v-soyuzfarme-predupredili-o-massovom-zakritii-aptek-iz-za-povisheniya-nalogov-a181524).

            But this new arrangement is likely to force many pharmacies located in rural areas to close because their profit margins are so small. Maria Litvinova, director of the Pharmacy Union, which unites some 4,000 pharmacies in 47 regions, says the future of public health in the regions depends on having the new law modified with respect to pharmaceutical outlets.

            That is because rural Russians, who no longer have easy access to doctors and medical care, have come to depend on pharmacies to keep themselves healthy. If the pharmacies are forced to close, this group of the population will lose than possibility and diseases and deaths will both increase significantly.