Due to the sanctions imposed in September by the United States against the AvtoVAZ automobile concern, its payments are being blocked by banks in both "unfriendly" and "friendly" countries, which in turn is leading to massive refusals by foreign partners to cooperate with the Russian company.
This was stated at a parliamentary hearing in the Federation Council of the Russian Federation by AvtoVAZ President Maxim Sokolov, RBC reports.
The US sanctions "have resulted in new massive refusals of foreign suppliers, sub-suppliers, financial institutions, and banks to cooperate with our automotive industry. Thus, foreign banks are simply blocking both our outgoing payments and payments to AvtoVAZ, if we talk about export products," Sokolov said.
On September 14, 2023, the U.S. Treasury Department imposed penalties against Russian automakers AvtoVAZ, GAZ Group, Moskvich, and Sollers (the main brand is UAZ).
The same month, Sokolov said that the restrictions would not affect his company's operations.
Even earlier, in June 2022, the Russian KAMAZ was subject to US blocking sanctions.
Earlier, at the Transport of Russia 2023 forum, Sokolov said that this year AvtoVAZ would cut its planned car production by 10%, from 400,000 to 360,000, due to US sanctions. However, despite the restrictions, the concern plans to launch mass production of new Lada e-Largus electric vehicles in the first half of 2024.
Background. As reported, the EU proposes to ban the export of machine tools, lithium batteries and drone engines to Russia.