Russian bookstore chain spends 100 million rubles destroying banned books

Russian retailers face mounting compliance costs under expanding content restrictions. Bookstore chains must bear 100% of destruction, relocation, and labeling expenses—estimated in the tens of millions of rubles annually—with no reimbursement from authorities or suppliers. Procedural uncertainty (books can be flagged retroactively by multiple bodies) creates legal liability even for compliant inventory, affecting supply-chain operations, shelf availability, and operational margins across the retail sector. Over 50% of Russian library collections may be at risk under strict interpretation of 2024 drug-promotion law.