Russian President Vladimir Putin gave a number of instructions following an August meeting with heads of Russian manufacturing enterprises. Among them are measures to prioritize the use of domestic cars by officials.
“Government of the Russian Federation <…> take measures aimed at the priority use of Russian highly localized vehicles by state and municipal employees for official purposes,” the text of the document on the Kremlin’s official website says. It is necessary to report on the execution of the order before February 1, 2023.
Recall that on August 3, Putin said that he had received a request from ministries and departments to continue purchasing imported cars for official needs. “I said that this should be absolutely excluded and all officials of the country should drive domestic cars,” TASS quoted him as saying.
The president explained his position by the need to develop Russian car brands and other products that officials should be able to sell. At the same time, if “somewhere it will be more modest than before, it’s okay – on the contrary, it’s even good.” At the same time, they should not completely abandon imports, according to the head of state. However, “basic things should be focused on the domestic manufacturer.”
It should be noted that in 1997, President Boris Yeltsin, at the suggestion of the then First Deputy Prime Minister in the government of the Russian Federation, Boris Nemtsov, forbade spending budget money on renting and purchasing foreign cars for federal officials. However, the innovation was not properly implemented, and two years later Yeltsin canceled his own order.
Source: Rosbalt
Mario Twitchell is an accomplished author and journalist, known for his insightful and thought-provoking writing on a wide range of topics including general and opinion. He currently works as a writer at 247 news agency, where he has established himself as a respected voice in the industry.
