Putin’s allies thrilled to ride ‘humble’ Russian cars.
Russian Officials Opt for Russian-Made Vehicles Over Luxury Imports
In a move that has garnered unanimous support, Russian officials have made the decision to drive Russian-made vehicles instead of luxury Western automobiles, according to a senior Russian lawmaker.
“Everyone supports this decision,” State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin said Friday. “We agreed that the deputies will use Moskvitch, Lada, Aurus cars.”
This newfound enthusiasm for supporting the local auto manufacturing sector comes amidst an ongoing exodus of foreign auto companies, including Volkswagen, Renault, Mercedes-Benz, and Nissan. While some officials may have briefly desired these outgoing vehicles, Russian President Vladimir Putin firmly rejected any requests to import them, deeming it “totally unacceptable.”
“All Russian officials should be riding in domestically produced cars,” Putin stated. “In some ways, they might be more modest than the cars we used in the past. Not a big deal. On the contrary, it will be better.”
Russian authorities are capitalizing on the Western exodus by implementing regulations on the sale price of these departing companies.
“Russian government rules make it difficult and expensive for foreign companies to get approval to sell their assets in Russia,” the Economist Intelligence Unit explained recently. ”In December 2022, the foreign investments subcommittee of the Ministry of Finance announced its requirements for asset sales by companies from ‘unfriendly countries’. The rules include a requirement that the seller offers a discount of at least 50% on the assessed market value, and then pays a ‘voluntary’ transfer fee of 5%-10% of the sale price to the Russian federal budget.”
Putin highlighted his “buy Russian” requirement during a meeting with representatives from Russia’s manufacturing sector, as the country aims to navigate the economic sanctions imposed by the United States and its allies in response to Russia’s involvement in the war in Ukraine.
“This is a wartime economy,” Ambassador James O’Brien, who leads the State Department’s Office of Sanctions Coordination, explained. “So the Russian state is propping up the Russian economy in an effort to rebuild Russia’s military for the long term. It’s not doing that well.”
Russian government purchases play a significant role in the domestic economy, as acknowledged by Russian Industry and Trade Minister Denis Manturov.
“Understandably, state-owned companies acted as the main growth drivers through government procurement orders,” he told Putin during a meeting at the Kremlin. “You also put special emphasis on car manufacturing. Indeed, this is a very important sector with a big multiplier effect for other sectors of the economy. Here we also see some recovery.”
The Kremlin chief expressed his confidence in the officials’ commitment to this endeavor and their contribution to the nation’s progress.
“Our officialdom is wonderful, and they should realize that we must strive to develop domestic brands of cars as well as other domestically produced products,” he said. ”This must be the prime direction for improving the standard of living.”
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