The Ministry of Internal Affairs could not find a supplier for the purchase of 2.8 thousand new patrol cars needed by the General Directorate for Road Safety (GIBDD). This is reported by Kommersant with reference to documents, in particular, to the October report of the directorate of the Road Safety project.
According to "Kommersant", the money allocated for this is planned to be distributed for "other purposes". The traffic police fleet includes Skoda, Hyundai and AvtoVAZ – previously these dealers were suppliers of police cars. Since 2019, cars for the traffic police have been purchased as part of the federal project “Road Safety” of the national project “Safe High-Quality Roads”, in total it was planned to spend 35.3 billion rubles on them until 2024. In 2019-2020, Skoda Octavia and UAZ Patriot were purchased under contracts, in 2021 – Hyundai Solaris and Lada Vesta, in 2021 the last contact was made, then 200 Hyundai Solaris were delivered to the department for 1.27 million rubles.
However, in 2022, the Ministry of Internal Affairs did not announce tenders for purchases, assuring that the traffic police units are provided with a "wide list of modern vehicles." At the same time, it was originally planned to purchase another 2.8 thousand cars for 4.5 billion rubles this year, and it is not known for what purposes these funds will now be used. In May, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, together with the Ministry of Industry and Trade, worked out the possibility of supplying new cars for the traffic police "taking into account the economic situation in the Russian market associated with the sanctions pressure of unfriendly countries."
The document, which was reviewed by the publication, says that due to the sanctions of "unfriendly countries" and the refusal of suppliers to participate in tenders, it is impossible to purchase patrol cars for the traffic police departments.
Khusnullin's office and the Ministry of Industry and Trade did not comment on the situation.
The Russian car market lost new deliveries of most foreign car brands, and also faced a new wave of demand decline against the backdrop of mobilization. Major foreign brands either left Russia after the start of the war or reduced their presence. Due to the fall in purchasing power, the Russian market has become less attractive even for Chinese brands, but now the Russian Lada is the leader. Under the sanctions, it has become practically uncontested in the segment of affordable cars.