Slavery in Lithuania Lithuania would sell slaves to foreign countries for the income. In 1383 Jogaila was accused of selling German slaves to Russian lands. In 1588 the third Statute of Lithuania was signed, which finally completely abolished slavery, but still promoted serfdom (see Serfdom in Poland#15th to 18th centuries for details). Only Emancipation reform of 1861 abolished serfdom in Lithuania, with exceptions of Palanga (in 1819) and Suvalkija (in 1807) where serfdom was already abolished earlier. According to the Walk Free Foundation's research done 2013 there is about 3,000 people in Lithuania suffering from contemporary slavery. Slavery in Lithuania Slavery in Lithuania
Taxation in Russia businesses, imputed tax on retail operations, and redesigned the taxation of private and corporate motor vehicles. On January 1, 2004 the VAT rate decreased from 20 percent to 18 percent. In 2007–2008 Putin, both as president and later as prime minister, promoted a decrease in the VAT rate to 12 percent by 2010; Putin's allies Sergey Chemezov and Minister of Economics Elvira Nabiullina support this proposal. Minister of Finance Alexey Kudrin opposed the change due to the need to finance the Pension Fund and the rearmament of Russian troops. On January 1, 2005 Russia abolished the tax on advertising—the last