Russia wants to boycott Western car manufacturers. Like Boris Yeltsin, Vladimir Putin appears to have had little success with this.
Moscow – From 2024, members of the Russian Parliament (State Duma) will only be allowed to use domestically produced company cars for their official activities. This is reported by the independent Russian news portal, among others Meduza. Accordingly, the State Duma voted unanimously for a corresponding resolution.
“It has been decided that from next year MPs in their constituencies will only receive Russian-made cars,” said a press release. According to State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin, deputies in Moscow have already started replacing “disused” official vehicles with domestic brands.
Russia: Domestic automobile production should be promoted
Already on September 6, Volodin had, according to the Russian business newspaper Vedomosti announced that in the future only domestically produced vehicles will be permitted for MPs in their constituencies. This decision was supported by the leaders of all parliamentary groups, he said at the time.
In addition, it was decided at that time that the State Duma’s fleet itself would only be supplemented with Russian-made cars in the future. “If cars are scrapped, they will only be replaced by domestic brands,” said Volodin.
According to Volodin, this measure will help to promote Russian automobile production and keep Russian budget funds in Russia. Volodin from Putin’s United Russia party is considered a hardliner and in January 2023 presented in the State Duma a proposal to expropriate Russian citizens if they oppose the war in Ukraine and discredit the country’s armed forces, like the daily News reported.
Vladimir Putin wants to push Western technology and products out of Russia
In a speech at the beginning of August 2023, Waldimir Putin himself called for all Russian officials to drive domestically manufactured cars. Putin said at the time that Russian budget funds should no longer be used to buy foreign cars. But he added that Russia does not have to refuse imports. The next day, Volodin said that the deputies would “start with themselves.”
This call for a boycott appears to be part of Moscow’s strategy to ban Western technology and products from Russia. As of April 1, 2023, the Kremlin banned its employees from using iPhones. These can now either be thrown away or given to children, the Russian newspaper quoted Kommersant At the end of March, the participant of an internal meeting of the presidential administration. The reason given was that Western secret services could easily access Apple’s smartphones.
Like Boris Yeltsin once did: Putin has had little success with his call for a boycott
So now it’s the automotive industry’s turn. Putin’s initiative is reminiscent of a decree issued by his predecessor Boris Yeltsin in 1997. At that time, Yeltsin banned government officials from buying foreign cars. Two years later, Yeltsin, who himself drove a foreign car, reversed this decision. Officials had repeatedly complained about the technical unreliability of the Russian vehicles.
Putin’s call to boycott foreign automobile manufacturers is apparently not having resounding success either. Russian officials are reportedly ignoring Putin’s boycott order. At the end of August, Dmitry Medvedev, deputy head of the Russian Security Council, will say Newsweek been seen in the back seat of a luxury Mercedes. Just a week after the Kremlin leader’s announcement, government authorities made over 53 million rubles (around 520,000 euros) available for the further purchase of foreign cars.
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