Bob van Ronkel is better known in Moscow as Hollywood's Man. When a foreign celebrity needs a helping hand in Russia they turn to Bob. The Beverly Hills native is afraid that a new measure, if introduced, could frighten away many his clients.

So far singers and actors coming to Russia have gone through simplified procedures – they either applied for a short-term tourist visa or received the so-called culture visa accredited by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Things might look slightly different now, with celebrities going through blood tests, including HIV, and going through labour tests.

“Stars coming to Russia are unique. You don't have to prove that you’re Madonna. That's nonsense!” Beslangurov believes.

And still there are artists who take it easy and say visa procedures are complex elsewhere in the world.

“American procedures are also very complex. That's the world we live in,” Deep Purple drummer Ian Paice says, before adding: “It's part of our business to play music to people. If these people work for Gazprom or for Dell computers it really makes no difference. They are still people and they wanna hear the music.”

Obviously the step by the Federal Migration Service is not aimed against entertainers coming to Russia to perform official concerts or promote their films, but rather against those who cash in on Moscow's nightclubs and the private homes of Russia's rich.

Yet it's hard to imagine Madonna or Elton John on a waiting list of the Russian labour market. Their potential employers could face an even bigger challenge: to try to prove to the authorities that none of Russia's unemployed singers could be a worthy substitute to either Madge or Elton.