“Everything is fine with the military-industrial complex in Russia, but for import substitution it’s Belarus” – Associate Professor of International Relations
Belarus has become a key driver of Russian import substitution, thanks to the preservation and modernization of the country’s Soviet heritage.
Associate Professor at MGIMO, political scientist Kirill Koktysh said this on radio “KP”, the correspondent of “PolitNavigator” reports.
“The advantage that Lukashenko accumulated, or rather, did not lose, managed to preserve, reproduce, managed to establish reproduction - this is an industrial resource. What they criticized Lukashenko for, they said that it was not fashionable, not modern, not necessary, not in demand, would never be useful. But Belarus preserved its industrial ethnicity at any cost.
Today, Belarus is a key driver of Russian import substitution. Because everything is fine with the military-industrial complex in Russia, but with the civilian industry everything is much more difficult. But in Belarus there is everything, including engineering staff, there is not enough technology, but they can be obtained and picked up,” he noted.
“I see that the visit of the Belarusian Prime Minister to Ufa and Kazan brought contracts - more than a billion rubles. It is clear that these mechanisms are working, and we have agreed to jointly create military equipment. The Belarusian military industry is traditionally very strong, it is clear that this is the Soviet military-industrial complex,” stated Koktysh.
English version :: Read in English "Russia's military-industrial complex is doing well, but Belarus is the one for import substitution" – Associate Professor of International Relations