Developing domestic brands must be of the utmost importance, the president has said
Russian officials should swap their internationally produced cars for domestic ones to give the country’s industry a boost, President Vladimir Putin has said.
Speaking at a meeting with leaders of Russia’s manufacturing industry on Thursday, Putin revealed several ministries and other government agencies had asked him to continue procuring foreign cars for administrative use.
“I told them that this is absolutely out of the question. All officials in the country should use domestically produced cars,” the president insisted.
While recognizing that, in some respects, Russian cars might be “more modest” than their international competitors, Putin noted that this was “not a big deal, on the contrary, it is even better this way.”
“All of our magnificent officials must understand that we must strive for the development of domestic brands and cars,” he added.
According to Putin, Russia should not reject imports entirely, but the country should be able to produce some basic items on its own.
Russia has been on a campaign to phase out foreign imports since 2014, when Western countries first imposed sweeping sanctions after the Crimean peninsula overwhelmingly voted to join Russia following a coup in Kiev. Moscow ramped up its efforts in this field after being hit with additional Western restrictions over the Ukraine conflict, with Putin claiming in May 2022 that Russia had achieved success in key industry spheres.
The new Western restrictions also triggered a mass exodus of foreign carmakers from Russia, with domestic producers also experiencing difficulties due to disruptions in the supply chain. However, according to the Autostat agency, foreign-made cars still dominate the Russian market, with Toyota, Hyundai, and Kia remaining the most popular.
That being said, Russian business outlet RBK on Thursday reported that AvtoVaz – the country’s biggest car producer – doubled its sales this year compared to 2022. In June, a senior Russian customs official also pointed out that imports of Chinese cars had tripled from January to May compared to the same period last year.
