Russian program to replace imports from U.S., EU
ALABINO, Moscow region. Aug 4 (Interfax-AVN) - The Russian government, relevant ministries and government departments have begun the second stage of work on import-substitution, said Oleg Bochkaryov, deputy chairman of the Russian government's Military-Industrial Commission.
"A second stage of work is underway - import-substitution of U.S. and European nomenclature," Bochkaryov told Interfax-AVN at the Russian Defense Ministry's innovations exhibitions which opened in Alabino, Moscow region, on Monday.
The substitution mechanism has already been launched with respect to imports from Ukraine, he recalled. "On July 28 the Russian president held a meeting which approved and launched the import-substitution mechanism," Bochkaryov said.
The most complex parts of this program will be implemented over a two- to three-year period, he said. "Other items are easier, import-substitution for them will be carried out much faster," he said.
"The second stage will, of course, take longer," Bochkaryov said. There is also a machinery program, he said.
"These are the basic aspects currently contemplated by the Ministry of Industry and Trade. They, too, will undergo the whole cycle of consideration, agreeing and filing with the president for approval. Today there is and can be no other managerial solution," Bochkaryov said.
"Today all work is carried out in the framework of the general ideology and instructions issued by the president: the defense industry must produce everything itself. To that end, we have the opportunities and the potential. The necessary funding will be allocated for the industry," Bochkaryov said.
The first stage of the program has already been evaluated, although this figure will be updated and adjusted in the process, he said. "This figure is absolutely not critical for us, it is quite manageable. As for the second stage, we don't know the figure yet but specialists are working on it," Bochkaryov said.
There is also another side to the sanctions imposed against Russia, he said. "It is a sort of stimulus for our own growth. We have been following this path and had these programs, and today we are forced to compress them, i.e. implement them not within five to seven years as (previously) planned but within one or two or three years," Bochkaryov said.
