Reference News, July 21 report. According to TASS, July 20 report, Russian President Putin emphasized that if Russia does not develop its own industries, including the automotive industry, it will lose its competitiveness and hence its national sovereignty. This view was expressed by him during a dialogue with Pavel Zarubin, a journalist from All-Russian State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company, when commenting on the decision to save the automotive industry in the late 1990s. The interview was recorded in January.
Putin admitted that many government officials had advocated abandoning the automotive industry because Russia was "far behind other countries" in this area, and consumers needed "good cars at low prices." He pointed out: "However, there is another side to the coin. If we do not pursue technological leadership, which is our goal, we should at least ensure technological independence."
Putin emphasized: "If we rely only on revenue from oil and gas exports to buy everything, given that our oil and gas exports are being attempted to be cut off by other countries, Russia will lose competitiveness and hence sovereignty." He concluded: "Therefore, I still did not agree to purchase everything from abroad. So we began to develop our domestic automotive industry."
Putin said he also drives domestic cars to support the domestic automotive industry. (Translation/ Han Ziling)
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