It doesn't actually outlaw phone subsidies. There were a Beeline booth selling simple phone with contract for 200 roubles (~$7) at the musical fest I've visited

It doesn't actually outlaw phone subsidies. There were a Beeline booth selling simple phone with contract for 200 roubles (~$7) at the musical fest I've visited last week. (Carrier can lock phone; carrier would have to unlock it after the contract ends; but nobody does that on any scale) It's just the marked shaped itself that everyone first buys phone then decides on carrier; everyone is on prepaid; thus no long-term contracts. You just dump money into a terminal once or twice per month and use that credit for calls/data/options.