How can a foreigner open up a business?

For foreigners staying at a hotel, the hotel will usually ask for their passport, visa and migration card upon check-in, in order to register them with the authorities. The passport is sometimes returned the next morning, though more frequently the hotel will keep foreigner passports in the hotel safe. However, according to Russian law foreigners are not allowed to go anywhere without their passports, presenting a Catch-22 situation that is particularly troublesome given the Russian police's tendency to target and detain foreigners under the pretense of checking their papers. The usual situation, one which usually (but not always) works with the Russian police (Militsiya) is to present them with the hotel key card (as proof of accommodation and of the fact that the hotel is holding the foreigner's passport) and to say that they are visiting tourists. However, Militsiya intent in getting money from foreign tourists may still require a bribe before releasing them from detention.