Russia is moving towards “technological sovereignty”: like this Dmitry Medvedev proposed to replace the term “import substitution” according to its definition humiliating for the country. Now Russian officials are consistently declaring their aspirationstechnological independencebut in reality, since sanctions have denied Russia access to a wide range of modern technologies in the fields of transport, security, energy, medicine and information they never recovered. In fact, they only get worse. The fact is that the decisions of the Russian government in recent decades have led to a reduction in funds for science and technologyand the number of researchers and developers in the country it has decreased significantly: now their share per thousand inhabitants is, for example, 16 times lower than in China. After the war began, it turned out that the country had no engineers and designers, no technologies and materials to replace the lack of foreign suppliers.
Forward to the past
Already in May it was discovered that the transport system Russian was nearby collapse because of the sanctions. Large sums of money were set aside from the budget to save it, but the quality of transportation was deteriorating. The minister Vitaly Savelyev He had to say that the sanctions had practically “destroyed all of the country’s logistics”. A few days after the outbreak of war, theautomotive industry in Russia it stopped because of lack of chips, semiconductor and spare Parts. Employee salaries were cut and some had to resign. The withdrawal of foreign automakers from Russia in May can also be seen Production of passenger cars in Russia he had practical ceased to exist: reduced by 96.7%. In June, Russia’s largest carmaker, AvtoVAZ, resumed production, although it began to economize security of cars and so onVicinity: the cars are produced in a “simplified” version, ie without an airbag, Section and emergency call system in case of an accident. Even cars with automatic transmissions are no longer produced because the technology has been imported and there is nothing to replace it. Also there are the motors that regulate it emission level are no longer imported to Russia, factories now also produce machines of lower environmental classes, including Euro 0.
“Half a year of war proved that the Russian auto industry originally came into being as an industry dependent on imports, vulnerable and not autonomous. In peacetime, this is called international integration and is considered a suitable scenario for countries like Sudan,” wrote the automotive expert in September. Sergei Aslanyan. Despite partially recovery of production, been in Russia since the beginning of the year produced on 64.2% less cars compared to the same period last year. At the same time, experts say that in the coming years the main task of the Russian automotive industry will be Recreate backward technologies and produce old cars (for example, Kamaz returned to the production of the 1976 model), because for many years Russia bought foreign projects, technologies and finished products, instead of developing its own skills. For the time being, Russia is counting on deliveries of spare parts China, Iran and India.
Aircraft cannibalization
Most of the planes Russian companies They belong to the leasing companies of the United States and Europe, but Russia apparently has no plans to return them after the sanctions announcement. The problem is how to support foreign planes when Russia stops selling aviation-related goods and technology. The option used by Russian airlines is known as “Aircraft cannibalization“And consists in moving the spare parts from one plane to another. Some aircraft are abandoned and serve as “donors” for those who continue to fly. Likewise Aeroflotthe state-controlled airline, had to deal with one lack of spare parts imported, while at some companies half of the fleet has become a “donor”. These measures should help to keep the aircraft running for a few more years. The “cannibalism” was sanctioned by the Russian government, which stated that shooting down the planes was “a worldwide practice”.
Obviously, there remains the option of piloting one’s own aircraft, such as the Sukhoi Superjet 100 (which, however, uses foreign spare parts). In addition, the state forgives subsidies for the restoration of aircraft production after the projects still being developed soviet union. The Russian airline UTair plans to buy 20 old Yak aircraft designed in the 60’s and 70’s. At the same time, for reasons of economy, pilots are offered the opportunity to carry out maintenance and repair work on aircraft themselves. They are also advised brake less when landing and taxiing to reduce wear and spare parts that are undelivered due to penalties. Also, the Russian government wants to replace the co-pilot on all planes with a virtual one from 2030 to save money, while companies have already stopped recruiting new pilots and are even forcing some employees to quit. So far, Russian pilots have not complained about flight safety. The fact that Russia due to sanctions from the system updatea of international navigation and the route maps causes problems during flight. And recently the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) at the United Nations lowered the security assessment of the flight to Russia: Now the country is marked with a “red flag”, which previously only Bhutan had.
High technologies and parallel imports
Probably the hardest blow was the withdrawal from Russia high-tech company. “Microprocessors are no longer shipped to Russia, but they are the backbone of every economy, so to speak,” he says. Markus Eder, the recently resigned EU Ambassador to Russia. For example, after American companies stopped supplying ATMs to Russian banks, unable to replace them with domestic ones, companies had to turn to Chinese suppliers. Western sanctions have also created a shortage of spare parts for laptops, forcing service centers to disassemble old devices or order inferior parts from China to fix the devices. Smartphone imports to Russia fell by 38% in the first half of the year, and the Russian AYYA T1, developed by the state-owned company Rostech, is selling very poorly, even with tight conditions.