Lets face it. So let's put this in its proper context. The thing about Russia though, especially once you get outside of Moscow, you feel like you're back in the Wild West. There is a definite lack of decorum when it comes to financial matters. Not if you value your money.
Somebody rips it off.
The government can be a big problem. You have to go through an huge amount of paper work, then they start taxing the money destined for salaries. The groups I work with in Russia, even though they all have bank accounts, asked me to look for alternative and intermediary sources. I use U.S.-based NGOs with programs in Russia. We make the grant to them and ask them to support their colleagues in Russia using their regular procedures .