Moscow

The ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine is difficult to predict, despite peace appeals from major countries like India. Russian President Vladimir Putin has instructed officials to avoid using foreign words, cars, and Western technology, including Apple devices. However, some officers are not obeying this order.

Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev was seen using a luxury Mercedes at an event, and Russian government agencies allocated over 53 million rubles for foreign cars a week after the order. Officials from Russia’s Ministry of Defense, Ministry of Agriculture, and state technology corporation Rostec continue using Apple products despite a ban issued in July. Russian analyst Oleg Ignatov argues that enforcing the ban on foreign cars and Apple accessories would be difficult due to the lack of options in the market.

Many foreign companies, Western companies, and Korean companies have left the Russian market, leaving the main cars in the Russian market being Chinese. Authorities typically require business-class cars of a special standard, but there is no production of such cars in Russia. Ignatov predicts that the government will eventually localize the production of Chinese cars or Iranian cars.