MOSCOW - The Western sanctions and the severing of military-technological ties with Ukraine will cost the Russian defense sector several billions of dollars, in the words of Russian Military Industrial Commission Board Chairman Yuri Mikhailov.
“I would say these are the extra expenditures Russia will have to bear [in substituting imports]. As far as I remember the digits, they amount to several billions of dollars,” Mikhailov said on the Ekho Moskvy radio on Dec. 23.
These are the risks related to the ongoing launch of new production facilities for substitution of imported products, he said.
It will take 18 to 24 months to complete the import substitution program in Russia, Mikhailov added.
“We have had to draw up an import substitution formula for every field, including high-tech sectors and technologies. So, we expect that everything we used to import from Ukraine will be produced in the Russian Federation soon, in approximately 18-24 months. A lot has already been done,” Mikhailov said.
Ukraine stopped the delivery of targeting systems and electronic component parts and cooperation was partially preserved in the construction of aircraft engines, he said.
“First and foremost, this is the question of aircraft engineering, including the construction of aircraft engines. By the way, Motor Sich, a Ukrainian major, still delivers certain batches of its products to the Russian Federation,” Mikhailov pointed out.
