>
>Could you partner with gray marketers (give them a percent of your business) to develop your customer base.

If I give them a percent of my business I will lose my customers. In Russia it is typical - to bite off the whole hand if you can have only one finger :) Only in the US and in the UK I could see how different companies did their business together - they have specialization. In Russia we can do all things by ourselves :)

>
>Can you work with foreign embassies to help you lobby to get the market to open up a little?
I do not understand what do you mean exactly. Is that a theoretical question?
Usually Russian people prefer to still money that has been given them by foreign countries, for example the US embassy. In my small town I have example too. The US government gave money for making access to Internet (over web site) our local library. Some dishonest people share that money without any competition between other developers and built a very strange web site with good money :)

>It's a small step - but at least you have access to the UniversalThread and can discuss those issues. But somehere in Russia, some citizen must have come up with an idea that has made him sucessful, despite the politics and black market. It's seems like you have managed a modest success. Is there someone like you, that turned their modest successes into a profitable business?

Yes, some people could. But they are not software developers - they are only sellers. But not rich very much, because they are not criminals and have to have to pay some taxes and bribes.