The Mashenka bakery in Lyubertsy near Moscow drew national attention after its owner, Denis Maksimov, took part in the program Results of the Year, combined with Vladimir Putin’s press conference. There, the businessman said that after tax changes, small companies would have to pay income-based taxes and VAT, warning that many businesses could shut down or move into the shadows.
On January 20, 2026, Maksimov announced that the bakery would likely close by mid- or late May. He said that even the sudden burst of publicity after the December broadcast did not solve the core problem: the business’s profitability is only about 15–16%, with 12% going to taxes, leaving just 3–4% in profit, barely enough to live on.
“We are looking to the future without optimism now; many will close and go underground,” Maksimov said during the meeting with the president.
After the broadcast, Putin said manufacturing businesses should not suffer during the transition to the new tax system, and later sampled pastries from the bakery. According to Maksimov, revenue and customer traffic rose in late December, allowing him to cover part of the losses and pay suppliers, but this did not produce a lasting fix.
On January 21, the entrepreneur was summoned to the Moscow regional government, where officials presented small-business support programs. The same day, Putin mentioned Mashenka again at a government meeting, and Economy Minister Maksim Reshetnikov outlined two possible solutions: raising employee salaries above the sector average to qualify catering businesses for VAT exemption, and applying reduced social insurance contribution rates. Maksimov was also advised to change his business classification code to seek additional regional benefits.
Maksimov said he was satisfied with the proposals and that closure remained only the most extreme option. At the same time, the Economy Ministry proposed a transition period for small and medium-sized businesses so that access to preferential regimes in 2026 would not depend on the previous year’s indicators. Maksimov said action was needed quickly, otherwise many businesses would simply “not make it.”
The Mashenka story is unfolding amid a broader crisis in the sector. From 2026, Russia’s base VAT rate rose from 20% to 22%, while the revenue threshold for small businesses required to pay VAT is being reduced step by step: from 60 million to 20 million rubles in 2026, then to 15 million in 2027 and 10 million in 2028. According to a study by Kontur.Focus, 35,400 catering businesses were liquidated nationwide last year, nearly 10% more than a year earlier.
On social media, users have described the handling of one bakery’s case as an example of “manual control.” They argue that while businesses are shutting down en masse, the state is trying to save one company individually because it became visible after an appeal to the president.