Well, people smuggled those watches to Poland after the collapse of USSR to get economy going.
Post-soviet state could not arrange proper exports, imagine that.
Post-soviet state could not arrange proper exports, imagine that.
it was the time of "privatization" and the exports were "privatized" too.
For example Putin got his start in the Russian "business" (after running scared away from his KGB job after the failed coup of 1991) as one of the key persons - he was issuing export licenses, ie. representing that "Post-soviet state" - in the massive export channel of the "privatized" commodities (mostly metals, some oil, etc) through St.Petersburg(Leningrad). A typical, and relatively small, example of such "privatized" export back then :
https://www.thebureauinvestigates.com/2012/04/19/putin-and-a...