Moscow, April 1:

A ban on foreigners selling goods in Russia’s hugely popular retail markets came into force on Sunday, leaving many markets struggling to remain open. Critics warned that the government order could push up prices, hurting the poorest among the population.

Almost all stalls were deserted at the vast market in Ussuriysk, near the Chinese border in Russia’s Far East, as the mainly Chinese workforce had left in advance of the new regulation, a visiting AFP reporter saw.

“We had hoped good sense would prevail. This could disrupt the economy and bring many problems,” a district councillor from Ussuriysk, Sergei Simakov, said. At Moscow’s vast Dorogomilovsky market some stalls had been forced to close and were displaying signs that read: “Wanted: Sales-people, must be Russian.”

In other cases foreigners remained in behind-the-scenes roles but had hired locals to trade on their behalf.

The government order announced last November and effective from April 1 bans foreigners from conducting transactions at market stalls, although they are still allowed to own such stalls.

“We’re waiting for the inspectors,” said Ilkham, the Uzbek owner of a seafood stall at Dorogomilovsky.

“It’s hard to find Russians because the workday is so long, from 6:00 am to 6:00 pm. I had to hire a woman with a Russian passport for 1,000 rubles (38 dollars/29 euros) and that’s only for today,” said Ilkham, who declined to give his surname.

The ban was presented by President Vladimir Putin as a way of improving employment prospects for Russian citizens. But critics say its aim is to placate nationalist sentiment ahead of parliamentary elections in December and a presidential vote next March at which Putin is due to stand down.

Up to 12 million foreigners are thought to work illegally in Russia.

Many import produce from the warmer climes of ex-Soviet republics on Russia’s southern border, several of which have visa-free travel accords with Moscow. Russia has seen a rise in nationalist sentiment in recent years. Last year 539 people suffered racist attack, of whom 54 died as a result, according to the monitoring organisation Sova.

In August 11 people were killed in a racially motivated bomb attack on a Moscow market.

In the government’s defence analysts point out that a quota on legal foreign workers in Russia was raised in January from one million to six million people.

A spokesman for the federal migration service, Konstantin Poltoranin, promised that enforcement would be carried out in an orderly fashion. “This doesn’t mean that from April 1 we will start large-scale raids and special operations,” Poltoranin said.