The frequent sightings of black Mercedes, with tinted windows and a flashing blue light, ferrying government officials to work through the dense Moscow traffic could soon be a thing of the past after Prime Minister and President-elect Vladimir Putin ordered that all bureaucrats should stop buying foreign-made cars.
"I believe that all state and municipal authorities, customers and companies who receive funding from the budget, should have to start buying cars produced on the territory of Russia and the Common Economic Area in the near future," said Putin on a tour of a major car factory. The Common Economic Area is a customs union between Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus.
According to official statistics, between 2007 and 2009, Russian government bodies and state-controlled companies spent around £100 million ($194 million) on luxury cars, while domestic car manufacturers such as Lada and Volga struggled.
In 1997, Deputy Prime Minister Boris Nemtsov proposed that foreign luxury vehicles should be replaced with chunky Volga sedans. The resulting decree was largely ignored by bureaucrats.
Although the new move may boost local companies, "Russian-made" cars include any car assembled inside Russia.
