Patrol cars stalled in sanctions – Newspaper Kommersant No. 221 (7422) dated 11/29/2022

The Ministry of the Interior has not been able to find a supplier of the 2,800 new patrol cars required for the traffic police. The money already allocated for this is now planned to be distributed for “other purposes”, follows from the documents that Kommersant has read. Previously, dealers of Skoda, Hyundai and AvtoVAZ acted as suppliers of police cars, but in 2022 the Ministry of Internal Affairs did not even announce tenders for purchases. The agency assures that the traffic police units are already provided with a “wide list of modern vehicles.” However, experts suggest that under the current conditions, the Russian market simply does not have a large batch of locally produced cars suitable for the traffic police.

Since 2019, the police have been purchasing new traffic police patrol cars as part of the Road Safety federal project of the Safe High-Quality Roads national project. It was planned to spend 35.3 billion rubles for these purposes. until 2024. In 2019–2020, Skoda Octavia and UAZ Patriot were purchased under contracts with dealers, and Hyundai Solaris and Lada Vesta were purchased in 2021. The last contract was signed in April 2021 with Major for the supply of 200 Hyundai Solaris for 1.27 million rubles.

But this year, the Ministry of Internal Affairs planned to purchase another 2.8 thousand cars for 4.5 billion rubles. In May, the police said that, together with the Ministry of Industry and Trade, they were “working out” the possibility of supplying new cars “taking into account the economic situation in the Russian market associated with the sanctions pressure of unfriendly countries.”

During this time, the Ministry of Internal Affairs has not announced a single tender for the purchase of cars. “The risks that arose in the context of external sanctions pressure associated with the introduction of sanctions by unfriendly countries and the temporary refusal of suppliers to supply and participate in competitive procedures made it impossible to purchase patrol cars for the State Traffic Inspectorate units in 2022,” says the October report of the Security Project Directorate. traffic”, which was studied by Kommersant. It also says that in accordance with the “resolution” of Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnullin, a “request for changing the passport of the federal project” has been prepared – to redistribute “the increased limits of budget obligations”. For what purpose they want to spend the money, it is not specified. The decision is expected before the end of November, follows from the document.

The office of Marat Khusnullin and the Ministry of Industry and Trade do not comment on the situation. The press center of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, in response to a request from Kommersant, said that “the units of the internal affairs bodies are provided with a wide range of modern vehicles that allow them to respond quickly to the tasks assigned.” The ministry also recalled that the supply of cars for the internal affairs bodies is carried out on the basis of public procurement legislation and government decree No. 616, which prohibits the purchase of goods from foreign countries for security and defense purposes.

Sergey Udalov from Avtostat states: the choice of cars has been significantly reduced after the suspension of most auto production in the Russian Federation. So, now it is impossible to purchase a large batch of Lada Vesta, since its production has been suspended. In fact, apart from the Lada Granta and the UAZ Patriot, only the Chinese Haval, localized in Tula, remained, the analyst continues. But the Haval line in the Russian Federation is only crossovers: “Perhaps it seemed like a significant cost overrun compared to the same Lada Vesta.”

It should be noted that on October 21, ST Nizhegorodets LLC (a manufacturer of special vehicles based on serial models) received vehicle type approval (OTTS) for two Haval models – F7 and F7x – in police airbrushing. Among their appointments is a “patrol car of the road patrol service.” A number of media reported that the security forces (including the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Russian Guard, the Prosecutor General’s Office, etc.) would travel in Chinese cars. However, confirmation that such machines will be purchased has not appeared. Prices for F7 start from 2.2–2.4 million rubles.

Perhaps, in the context of sanctions and the withdrawal of companies from the Russian market, no one was able to provide the Ministry of Internal Affairs with a large batch of locally produced cars, Kommersant’s interlocutors in the automotive industry say. The market could not offer cars with the necessary parameters and characteristics (recall, since the beginning of summer, Lada Granta has been produced in simplified modifications, cars still do not have ABS) and price, Sergey Udalov suggests: “Probably, it was decided to redistribute these funds, for example, to repairs and wait for the expansion of the supply of the same sedans on the market to continue the renewal of the parks.

In fact, the only option that is now available to the regions as a vehicle for the traffic police is Lada Granta, adds Maksim Kadakov, editor-in-chief of Za Rulem magazine: AvtoVAZ is ready to make the necessary batch of cars, but for the Ministry of Internal Affairs they still need to be glued and put special equipment. In addition, the expert recalls that in March 2023, serial production of a simplified version of Vesta on the “mechanics” with a 90-horsepower engine from Granta will be resumed in Togliatti. It is possible that this car will suit the police and purchases will resume.

Ivan Buranov, Olga Nikitina