Minister of Economic Development Alexei Ulyukayev believes that it is inappropriate to introduce new restrictions on the import of industrial goods to Russia in response to US and EU sanctions. "Our task is not to harm them, but to help ourselves. Therefore, we must do this in such a way as not to bring great risks to our own consumers, and these are primarily inflationary risks, and secondly, to make it so that it benefits our producers," he said.

"In the area of agriculture, everything is more or less clear. In fact, we can really be a country that not only fully provides itself with food, but also a large exporter. This is indeed an urgent national task, and some maneuver, including investment, in favor of import substitution, despite the controversial nature of the term "import substitution", is correct," Ulyukayev noted.

"I don't understand this logic with regard to other sectors. Therefore, I believe that this kind of action (new restrictions on the import of a number of industrial products to Russia, such as automobiles) would hardly be useful," Ulyukayev expressed his opinion.

"It seems to me that we should think about something else - about helping companies that have ended up on the sanctions list. I am primarily referring to banks and financial corporations, because the work of other sectors of the economy depends on them, and in this way we can neutralize the negative impact of sanctions on our market, our producers, and not by introducing symmetrical or asymmetrical sanctions," the minister emphasized.

Commenting on the question of how the list of new goods for which import restrictions may be introduced was prepared, Ulyukayev explained that "all ministries and departments have prepared their applications. The Ministry of Industry and Trade said: we would like to include cars (in this list). We simply compiled these applications. We are not proposing this ourselves, this is a kind of summary of such feelings of federal executive authorities."

"We need to work with him now. Part of the work was done in the form of food measures. Nothing else was done, and, from my point of view, it is not at all necessary (to introduce new restrictions)," the minister said. Therefore, it is pointless to talk about any timeframes for introducing new restrictions, he believes.

Last week, President Vladimir Putin, after news of new US and EU sanctions emerged, said Russia would only impose counter-sanctions if the government deemed them to be in the interests of the Russian economy.

For the first time, in response to Western sanctions, Putin issued a decree restricting imports from countries that had imposed these sanctions. As a result, imports of a number of food products were restricted. On the eve of the latest EU and US decisions, Putin's aide Andrei Belousov said that potential countermeasures had already been prepared. According to him, Russia could impose a ban on imports of cars and some types of clothing.

Ulyukaev doubts the usefulness of restrictions on the import of cars and any industrial goods into Russia