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So much for Moscow’s “no-limits” partnership with Beijing.
Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin isn’t impressed with the use of Chinese car parts in Russian-made vehicles.
While viewing new models of Volga cars at a business expo in Nizhny Novgorod, Mishustin asked, “Friends, I understand everything but where was this steering wheel made? [Is it] Chinese?”
“We want it to be Russian,” he added, as seen in a video posted on the Russian government’s Telegram channel.
Mishustin, a loyal Kremlin technocrat who usually flies under the radar, was reappointed this month as President Vladimir Putin’s head of government while the Kremlin boss shuffled other top jobs.
China has continued to be a key ally to Russia and proved vital to its economy in the face of Western sanctions leveled after Putin launched his full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Russia’s automotive industry was hit hard by Western sanctions and the departure of many foreign automakers. In the aftermath, Chinese carmakers have in large part helped to keep the sector viable.
However, Chinese car sales appear to have peaked as Russia pushes for domestic production to recover.
That includes the revival of Soviet-era Volga cars — a production project that will exceed 60 billion rubles (around €600 million) and is expected to launch in 2024, according to Russian news agency TASS.
Putin had previously called for Russian officials to only drive domestically-produced vehicles.
“Ministries, agencies, and the administration of affairs have asked to continue [purchases], to emphasize, in fact, foreign-made cars, to continue this practise,” he said last summer. “I said that this should be absolutely excluded and all officials of the country should drive domestic cars.”
