Putin says all Russian officials should drive domestic vehicles, a policy backed by Boris Nemtsov 26 years ago

At a meeting with manufacturing executives on Thursday, Vladimir Putin said that “all of the country’s officials should drive domestic vehicles.” A recording of the statement was published on Telegram.

In the clip, the president explains that multiple government employees have asked him to allow them to continue purchasing foreign vehicles.

“I said that this should be absolutely ruled out and that all of the country’s officials should travel in domestic vehicles. That might mean some people’s cars are more modest than before — and that’s fine. In fact, it’s a good thing. All of our wonderful bureaucrats need to understand that it’s important to seek the development of domestic brands,” said Putin.

After the president’s comments were published, the state-owned automobile manufacturer AvtoVAZ told the news agency RIA Novosti that it has the production capacity necessary to provide cars for Russia’s officials. Earlier, RIA Novosti reported that the Russian car industry was too small for this, citing a knowledgeable source.

Putin isn’t the first person to propose that Russian officials drive Russian vehicles exclusively. Boris Nemtsov was an advocate of the idea when he served as the country’s deputy prime minister in the 1990s. On April 1, 1997, President Boris Yeltsin issued a decree banning government employees from driving foreign vehicles. The experiment failed when officials found their cars constantly breaking down, however, and Yeltsin revoked the decree two years later, never having stopped driving a foreign vehicle himself.