Go domestic – Kommersant
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State Duma Chairman Vyacheslav Volodin on Tuesday proposed obliging officials at all levels, and at the same time deputies, to drive domestic cars. During a speech in the Duma by Minister of Finance Anton Siluanov, the speaker asked why his department was slow to adopt the relevant regulations. Mr. Siluanov supported the proposal and announced the readiness of the Ministry of Finance “to be the first to participate in the purchase of domestic cars.” Representatives of the Duma opposition also approved the idea of United Russia Volodin, while noting that a domestic car should be comparable to a foreign car in terms of price and quality. The expert believes that the initiative is “in trend” and has a chance of being implemented, but it will not make a big impression on voters.
On July 11, Anton Siluanov spoke at the plenary session of the State Duma with a report on the execution of the budget for 2022 and answered deputies’ questions. Vyacheslav Volodin began his question to the speaker with a story about a recent visit to a plant in Kaliningrad where BMW cars used to be assembled. He said that the German automaker did not allow deepening the localization of production, but the current situation contributes to the development of the domestic auto industry. “How would you feel about the fact that all budgetary institutions, government bodies must purchase cars produced by our domestic automakers? – the speaker asked the minister. – The lineup today is large, the choice is huge, but it is quite obvious: if we started producing Moskvich, they began to produce Lada – yes, let the components today be many from other countries, but this is a Russian brand … Why do you until today, delay and do not adopt regulations obliging officials at all levels to use our domestic cars?
Anton Siluanov immediately replied that he fully supported this position. “We, as the Ministry of Finance, are ready to be the first to participate in the purchase of domestic cars,” the minister assured. Then Mr. Volodin turned to his colleagues in the chamber: “It is in our power to replenish the fleet of cars of the State Duma as soon as possible with Ladas and Moskvichs.” He also recalled that the president uses the domestic “Aurus”, and the leader of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation Gennady Zyuganov “is waiting for the Niva, wants his favorite car.”
It should be noted that now the Federal State Budgetary Institution “Motor Transport Combine” of the Presidential Administration allocates to the State Duma mainly Ford and BMW cars of domestic assembly. As a source in the Duma told Kommersant, ordinary deputies drive Ford Mondeo, committee heads drive BMW 5 or Genesis 80, vice-speakers and faction leaders drive Genesis 90. Permanent cars are assigned to disabled deputies, women, heads of committees, faction leaders and vice-speakers, and ordinary parliamentarians order a car, if necessary, from the car park of the Presidential Administration.
According to the public procurement website, over the past years, the Presidential Administration has purchased mainly BMW, Hyundai and Ford cars. For example, in 2021–2022, Autotransport Plant purchased 28 Hyundai Sonata 2.0 AT Comfort, two Hyndai Sonata 2.5 AT Business and 39 BMW 750Li xDrive M SportPro.
In the opposition factions, the initiative of Vyacheslav Volodin was greeted with approval. Gennady Zyuganov’s press secretary, Alexander Yushchenko, told Kommersant that the Communists are in favor of such measures, but believe that Russian cars should comply with a normal pricing policy, be of high quality and completely domestic. “Yes, Volodin said that the leadership and ministers drive Auruses. Yes, domestic car. How much does it cost? So isn’t it better for the cost of such a domestic car to make a better budget car that will meet the same standards? I’m not saying that the German car is better, it is also very expensive, but it is much cheaper (“Aurus”.— “b”),” said the MP.
Oleg Nilov, First Deputy Head of the A Just Russia – For Truth faction, considers Mr. Volodin’s idea to be correct, though not new. He also recalls that the Socialist-Revolutionaries have long suggested to deputies and officials that they completely abandon personal vehicles: “You have your own car – you have coupons for gasoline, not a car with a driver. Or if some deputy, official, it’s not a sin to ride the metro, it will be both faster and more useful. So urgently you need something on business – call a taxi, and not in such a way that you work all day, mostly sit, and the car with a personal driver is standing.
Yaroslav Nilov, deputy head of the LDPR faction, believes that Vyacheslav Volodin’s proposal is aimed at supporting the domestic auto industry, and hopes for a positive effect if it is implemented. “In connection with all the sanctions, we have a “engine hunger”, and even getting a part is not a quick procedure,” the deputy says. “Of course, Russia is an attractive market for the Chinese auto industry, but we need to develop our own. Another thing is that the Russian auto industry should think about the quality and comfort of the passenger. Despite the fact that we can do all this, there would be a desire.
State Duma Vice Speaker from the New People, Vladislav Davankov, had previously put forward a proposal to transfer Moscow officials to Moskvichi as one of the points of his election program for the mayoral elections in the capital. He is preparing a bill so that for the needs of officials and deputies only cars of domestic companies owned by legal entities from Russia or the EAEU countries are purchased.
Evgeny Minchenko, President of the Minchenko Consulting communications holding, believes that the new initiative is “in trend”, has a chance of being implemented and will not fundamentally change the life of an ordinary deputy. But the expert doubts the noticeable political technological effect of this idea, comparing it with an attempt by First Deputy Prime Minister Boris Nemtsov in the 1990s to transfer all officials to the Volga. “And I can’t say that then it somehow added something to him. Why? This is a one-time initiative, it is not systemic. Yes, it probably has the right to exist, but it does not directly affect the stomachs and wallets of Russian citizens. That is, such good, solid populism, but one should not expect much from it,” Mr. Minchenko explains.
In 1997, Boris Nemtsov made a proposal to transfer civil servants to Russian cars. But it was not possible to realize this idea, despite the support of President Boris Yeltsin. Similar attempts were made by Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov – for these purposes, the Moskvich plant even developed the Ivan Kalita executive sedan. However, in 2002 the conveyor stopped working. At various times, they tried to wean officials from foreign cars in a number of other regions, but also without much success. The latest initiatives of this kind appeared after the start of the “sanctions war” with the West. In the fall of 2022, Sergei Mitrokhin, Moscow City Duma deputy from Yabloko, proposed to transfer the capital’s car fleet to the updated Moskvich cars, on whose initiative the capital’s parliament adopted a corresponding appeal to Mayor Sergei Sobyanin in the spring of 2023. And Anton Siluanov, after testing the new Lada Aura, urged officials to switch to AvtoVAZ products.
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