We have questions vis-a-vis your visa

I've got a couple of overseas business trips coming up and I'm in the process of getting visa paperwork together for those countries that require them. Having looked at the visa application forms from several countries, they're all pretty straight forward and the questions aren't particularly unusual. Not so for Russia. Here's a sampling of actual questions on the Russian visa application form:

• Who will pay for your trip to and stay in Russia?
• Have you ever lost your passport or had one stolen?
• List all countries you have visited in the last 10 years and indicate the year of visit.
• List your last two places of work, excluding the current one.
• List all educational institutions you have ever attended, except high schools. (The accompanying blanks on the form demand name, address and phone number of institution, course of study and dates of admission and graduation.)
• List all professional, civil and charity organizations which you are (were) a member of, or contribute (contributed) to, or work (worked) with.
• Do you have any specialized skill, training or experience related to firearms or explosives, or to nuclear, biological or chemical activities?
• Have you ever performed military service? If yes, indicate country, branch of service, rank, military occupation and dates of service.
• Have you ever been involved in an armed conflict, either as a member of the military service or a victim?

And, under the heading of keeping out "categories defined under the law as being undesirable":

• Have you ever been sick with a communicable disease of risk to the public or suffered a dangerous physical or mental disorder?
• Have you ever abused drugs or been a drug addict?

How much you wanna bet this is the same form the old Soviet Union used? Commies suck...even "reformed" ones.