Of course, the measures proposed by the president in his address to the citizens of Russia are welcome. All in essence, the amount of support is unprecedented. I do not remember this in the recent history of Russia. But the main question: how will all this be implemented? And how will officials behave, many of whom have remained in their places since the zero, if not since the 1990s? Officials with a completely different psychology that does not correspond to the realities of today.

Take small and medium-sized businesses. Putin announced the need to provide a six-month deferral for all taxes except VAT. It sounded revolutionary, could we introduce such a thing six months ago?

But what will be the implementation of the president’s instructions?

Let’s take a look at a specific example. One of the significant costs of small and medium-sized businesses is rental. Not all landlords meet, or rather, almost no one. Negotiations, as people from the restaurant business say, are very difficult. Landlords threaten that others will come to this place. But others will not come - there will simply be no one left.

The landlord must be a partner of the tenant, but they do not want to live in another world. A restaurateur has been paying him serious money for 15 years, but he is not at all ready to go forward. If at least three tables in the hall are occupied by visitors - the establishment is working, pay the rent! But usually 33 are busy!

I spoke with the owner of the network from more than 30 establishments. At the moment, none of the landlords has gone forward, everyone is waiting for instructions from above. Moreover, two objects - in buildings owned by the Federal Property Management Agency. But there is silence awaiting an answer. But this is a state organization, which, in theory, should set an example to the rest, be proactive.

They talk a lot about take-away work, but by and large it’s a profanity. Not every restaurant can reconfigure to this very specific format. Delivery is mainly pizza, sushi, burgers and simple homemade food. And restaurants - this is a gourmet cuisine, the exact serving temperature and many other subtleties. Every restaurant now has products worth about 700 thousand rubles — they will inevitably deteriorate, the money invested in them will be lost.

My interlocutor all goes to the fact that out of 30 institutions will remain only five. He built a business for 20 years, now he employs more than 2 thousand people, most of them will be left without work. And where will they go when everyone has a similar situation?

By the way, not only gourmet restaurants suffer.

In Yaroslavl, the food factory feeds children with meals in 158 schools. Schools closed, no one to feed, no money. 720 people work, many have a mortgage, consumer loans. What do people live on if schools do not know when to open?

What is the hospitality industry in Russia? This is about 3 million jobs across the country, about 140 thousand enterprises.

Cheburechnye and shawarma will close, wait out, as soon as possible - open. In such places, one or two people work, they can be maneuverable. But this is the lower part of the market, their minority. Restaurants with technologists, accountants, calculators, professional chefs, pastry chefs and other specialists are unlikely to reopen. A restaurant is a very complex machine that has been created for years, decades. But a simple length of only a week threatens at times with complete collapse.

Today it is a low margin business. How is the work process usually arranged? They took food, sold cooked food to the guests, paid rent, salaries, taxes. No guests - no revenue. Accordingly, it is impossible to settle accounts with employees, suppliers, and landlords. Many suppliers, by the way, also, in turn, took loans for the turnover of a restaurant. They also need to somehow get out of the situation. It will be possible to agree with someone; someone will sue. Some of the business owners will go into debt, someone will not be able to do this.

The upcoming restoration of work is a completely different story. Without changing the old laws, without the regulatory guillotine, without strict measures against corrupt representatives of the control and oversight bodies, this will not be possible.

But back to the current situation. Tax incentives and tax deferrals today will not give anything to many enterprises. It is necessary to do as in Europe: the state takes on payments to employees, gives interest-free loans to cover losses, and compensates the costs to lessors.

After the president’s installation: “I ask the government and the Central Bank to propose and take additional measures for the sustainable development of the real sector of the economy, including state guarantees” - entrepreneurs have hopes for the best. The government, it seems, did not sleep at all at night and prepared regulatory acts the next day. This is very cool, we forgot that officials know how to work like that.

The number of business consultations by the current government is unprecedented today. A large meeting was led by Prime Minister Mishustin. The government breaks stereotypes, it works tirelessly. But the situation is such that it is simply impossible in a different way.

Let me remind you again what needs to be done in the coming days, in addition to tax breaks.

First: legally recognize coronavirus infection as force majeure (force majeure).

Second: a full moratorium on fines (tax and administrative) charged in 2020 for small and medium-sized businesses. Termination of any checks, prohibition of account blocking.

Third: interest-free targeted loans for the payment of wages, restructuring of previously issued loans.

Fourth: rental vacations and landlord support.

It is important to understand that entrepreneurs are not crooks, but employers who take huge risks, often in collateral for loans with their own housing. Not all of us are ready to do this. And with the stereotypes that the entrepreneur is a fraudster, capable of only snatching, one must fight, and fight seriously. An entrepreneur, a person who works 16-18 hours a day, is the engine of progress; he creates an additional product, jobs. Without the support of entrepreneurs, for example, the hospitality industry, about 3 million people can remain without work in our country. The very people that, as the president said, the state must take care of. It’s easy to destroy, and restoration can take many years. I'd like to hope for the best.

The author’s point of view may not coincide with the position of the publisher.