The families of the Russian security forces who died in the war in Ukraine were given foreign Suzuki cars, the Life publication published a video with a widow in front of new cars at the end of May. The Mobilization Telegram channel drew attention to the fact that these are outdated Suzuki Baleno, which are imported into the country through “parallel imports” from India. Suzuki has not been supplying new cars and motorcycles to the Russian Federation since March 2022 due to the full-scale invasion of the Russian Federation in Ukraine.
In the published video, the widow of Russian Guard Colonel Sergei Postnov, Ekaterina Postnova, says that it was “unexpected and pleasant,” and she is very happy with such a gift. She also talks about her deceased spouse, who, according to her, was devoted to military service, was "in the center of events: in Chechnya, in Syria, in the NVO zone."
On May 28, 50 cars were handed over to the families of law enforcement officers who died in the "special operation" as part of the "We Remember" charity program.
Earlier, the Autonews.ru portal reported that a large Moscow dealership brought a batch of new Suzuki Jimny SUVs from Japan and India to Russia via Kazakhstan. The showroom presents models of both Japanese assembly and those made in India, a correspondent who introduced himself as a buyer found out. Prices for SUVs – from 3.3 million to 3.7 million rubles. At the same time, Suzuki cars have not been officially delivered to Russia since March 2022.
During the war in Ukraine, the domestic Lada became a symbol of what the Russians can afford, having received money from the state for the death of children at the front. So, in the summer of 2022, the family of the deceased paratrooper Alexei Malov from the Saratov region appeared in the Vesti Nedeli program with Dmitry Kiselev on the Russia 1 channel. The father testified that the family bought a white Lada Granta for "coffin".
AvtoVAZ, which produces Lada, ran into problems during the war. In January, Lada, depending on the model, could only be ordered in two or three colors – white, black and dark green – due to a shortage of paintwork materials. As a company representative told Vedomosti, earlier it was possible to choose from 7-8 colors.
Russia faces new sanctions after a full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022. Critics of Western sanctions against the Russian Federation argue that they are not able to stop the war and change the Putin regime, while they refer to the examples of states living under sanctions for decades. However, an analysis of the cases of Venezuela, North Korea, Cuba, Iran and China shows that the secret of the survival of their regimes is the help of more developed and wealthy partners and investors. Who could become such an investor for Russia is unclear, since the war quarreled between the Kremlin and developed countries, and China is in no hurry to become a donor for Russia: it is more profitable for it to arrange production in the poorer countries of Southeast Asia. Read more in The Insider .