Siemens decision to leave Russia unexpected, equipment to be substituted via parallel import - minister

RYBINSK. May 13 (Interfax) - The decision of Siemens to no longer operate on the Russian market was unexpected after long cooperation with companies, but consumers of the concern's products will be able to purchase the necessary equipment through parallel imports, Russian Industry and Trade Minister Denis Manturov said.

"This is, as a matter of fact, a huge surprise for us in terms of interaction with Siemens, because the company has been on the Russian market for more than 150 years, since Tsarist Russia, and they always declared that at all meetings. But such an unexpected decision on their part seems sufficiently strange to us. Nevertheless, it's the company's decision," Manturov said at a press briefing on Friday, answering a question whether Russia will be able to substitute the German company's equipment, in particular, gas turbines.

Work has been carried out over a period of several years in partnership with Power Machines to localize high-capacity turbine production in Russia, Manturov said. "We made the decision to localize and create our own 65-MW and 170-MW high-capacity turbines opportunely. All works are going according to schedule. Power Machines will begin to supply this product for upgrades of Russian thermal power stations next year," he said.

There is a possibility of supplies of Siemens equipment thanks to the parallel import mechanism, which allows imports of goods without the permission of the rights holder on the condition that sales are global, Manturov said.

"Siemens isn't just gas turbines, it's a long list of products that they develop and produce, including monitoring systems. We, as you know, recently made a decision on parallel imports, that is, if this isn't going to be supplied directly, there's the opportunity to buy through other, friendly countries. I hope that our enterprises that were interested in Siemens products before this will also be motivated to use those available resources and the offers available that don't restrict supplies of their products to our market with their presence. Therefore, we don't see any difficulties implementing these plans," he said.