can the country be self-sufficient?

“There Russia cannot, like certain countries, abandon its sovereignty. (…) Or the Russia will be a sovereign power and carsufficient or it will not exist at all.“ It is in these terms that Vladimir Putin spoke at the party congress “Russia Unique” on December 17.

For years, the country has tried to do without imports as much as possible, in the agricultural sector for example. After the annexation of Crimea in 2014, Vladimir Putin invested massively in agriculture to avoid shortages in the event of European sanctions. The country quickly became the world’s leading exporter of wheat and a major producer of meat.

Can this ambition be applied to other sectors of the Russian economy? For example, the industry is currently very dependent on certain foreign parts. Russian entrepreneurs are trying as best they can to relocate their production to circumvent the new European sanctions. They are trying to find new supply circuits.

Russia, still dependent on China in the technological field

The country still depends on imports, particularly in the field of technology. Certain electronic components, such as chips or semiconductors, are necessary for its war industry. There Russia needs China to get it.”China is in a position where it is very careful about what it does, and it does not provide Russia everything she needs. The other option for Russiait is to circumvent the sanctions, these are circuits which pass for example through the countries of the Caucasus or the countries of Central Asia”explain the economist Agathe Demarais.

There Russia can therefore be carsufficient in certain areas such as agriculture, but for the rest, it needs its foreign partners, particularly Asian ones.