Legal DVD's with English subtitles. NTSC and PAL.

As many know, or have discovered, there is a ban on exporting DVD's, CD's, and software out of Russia to private parties. That's why you can't just buy it yourself from, say, Ozon.ru or Bolero.ru. One of Putin's long range goals for Russia has been and remains to join the World Trade Organization. An impediment to this has been Russia's worldwide reputation for its problems with pirating and gray marketing of DVD's, CD's, software, and other copyrighted items. There were, and continue to be, complaints about this lodged with the WTO. Putin put the ban in place by executive order in November 2005 in response to these complaints. In addition, since early 2004, all disc media made in Russia must have a license imprint from the Russian Ministry of Publishing, Television, and Radio pressed into the disc during manufacture. Although it does block pirate and gray market sales, it is a blanket ban that, unfortunately, also blocks perfectly legal sales.

However, although sales to private parties are banned, wholesale sales to approved retailers outside of Russia remain open. I've found two retailers outside of Russia that I'm confident are selling legal copies of "Admiral". Both of these retailers have excellent reputations for selling only legal copies. All legal copies have English subtitles.

1) ArtPopDVD.com in Ontario, Canada, (formerly AllDVD) --
"Admiral", NTSC R0, English subtitles, w/audio book, $25: http://www.ArtPopDVD.com/DVD/48478.aspx.
Note: This is a special 2-disc NTSC edition put out by the legal distributor, "Myuzik-treyd" ("Music-Trade").

2) Ruslania.com in Helsinki, Finland --
"Admiral", PAL R5, English subtitles, w/ audio book, $27: http://www.Ruslania.com/entity-3/context-161/details-2253.html.
Note: This is the 2-disc Moscow Gift Edition sold in Russia.

Use a credit card to order, so that you can file a dispute if anything goes wrong. If you buy the PAL R5 copy from Ruslania, be sure to check that there is a license imprint from the Russian Ministry of Publishing, Television, and Radio on each disc. The Russian MPTR license imprint is found on the silver-faced side of the disc, pressed around the center spindle-hole. It lists the manufacturer of the disc, along with their license number. For "Admiral", a typical imprint will say something like "Made in Russia - OOO 'RepliMaster' Litsenziya MPTR Rossii VAF N77-41" (which, in English, simply says "Made in Russia - RepliMaster Inc., Russian MPTR Registered License N77-41"). Although they're in Russian, MPTR license imprints are so distinctive that an English-speaker should be able to readily identify one. There may be Russian MPTR license imprints on the NTSC discs from ArtPopDVD, but I'm not sure where "Myuzik-treyd" ("Music-Trade") is having their NTSC discs pressed. Many Russian distributors have NTSC discs pressed in Taiwan, where Russian MPTR license imprints are not required. But, if pressed in Taiwan, it will say "Made in Taiwan" on the discs, will be of high quality, and will look similar to legal American NTSC discs.

Please let me know if you have any problems.