Starting from 1 January, the wholesalers and the retailers from 1 July are obliged to connect to the electronic system USAIS, created to control the turnover of alcohol in Russia. According to RBC, the new rules have already caused interruption in alcohol supplies.

“Yesterday I sent several trucks to the stores that had already registered [in USAIS],” commented the businessman from Irkutsk, “Retail cannot confirm the fact of delivery, as the system does not confirm it. The operator of technical support of USAIS said that the waiting time for confirmation may take up to three days. The trucks stayed overnight, because the goods had not been accepted and the temperature outside was 30 degrees below zero. In the morning we opened the truck: all beer had burst – 100 boxes in one truck and 150 in another, the same situation was with wine and champagne. Now I am counting up the damage. The stores still have not accepted the goods and refused to store them at their warehouse, because they consider that the goods are illegal if the system does not confirm them.”
Another wholesaler from  Moscow region, who asked not to name his company, said that he solved the problems with the shops by drawing the supplies ex-post 31 December 2015, when the fact shipping had not had to register in the system. “Some stores that are not connected to the system pay to suppliers in cash, i. e. they check the goods past USAIS,” he affirms.
The owner of several grocery stores in Moscow’s suburbs said that USAIS has already worked, but it is very inconvenient. “We make the order to the wholesaler and place this information in the system”, he explains, “The wholesaler for his part enters information about the shipping of goods from the warehouse and the truck with alcohol drives to our address. However, in almost half of the cases when the truck arrives the information entered in the module is not recognized by the system. It is absolutely unclear what to do in this situation: neither the wholesaler nor we want to take risks”.
According to the interlocutor, he has already had storage of alcohol for some items in his retail outlets. “Soon we will have nothing to trade,” he affirms.