
Russia is not used to sanctions. In 25 years, people will celebrate the 500th anniversary of the first restrictions imposed on our country.
In the late 16th century, the Livonian Order forbade 123 masters and scientists to travel to Russia at the invitation of the Tsar. Nevertheless, cap-and-trade sentiments are inappropriate; world experience shows that sanctions are a long-term tool for suppressing the enemy’s economy. The inevitable question then becomes, “what to do?” The answer to this should be sought out among those who have successfully passed the ‘time and import substitution test’.
When people talk about the modern sanctions war, they usually mean the period after 2014, when Russia was hit with a veritable barrage of restrictions in almost every imaginable sphere. This opinion has been reinforced because, since then, sanctions have become a systemic and regular phenomenon that impacts everyday people’s lives. Nevertheless, it is worth remembering that modern Russia has lived without sanctions for just under a month to understand the situation; more precisely, for 16 days, from November 21 to December 7, 2012.
Only 31 years after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the last restrictions that the US imposed on its geopolitical rival were lifted. This was the Jackson-Vanik amendment, which essentially meant that all competitive Russian goods became subject to a tax if exported to U.S. markets. Government loans and loan guarantees were also forbidden to Russia, and if the second part was not so critical for us, then the first part seriously hindered the export of high-tech goods, which have always focused primarily on the U.S. market. The amendment was taken out on November 21, beginning a new cycle a few days later oncethe Magnitsky list appeared.
This cycle is ten years old, during which Russia has broken the international record for the number of sanctions. Altogether, the country has about 6,000 restrictions in various fields. Some of them amount to a powerful multiplier effect for sectors that even Western countries have promised to avoid. For example, healthcare: there are logistical difficulties in supplying the latest medical equipment and problems in paying for foreign equipment and drugs. Some pharmaceutical companies have simply left the country. As a result, the industry has suffered dramatically, despite it not appearing anywhere directly.
Once again, the question is, what to do? The first half of the year took frightening proportions. Years of import substitution policy proved insufficient. we can now only rejoice that some promising scientific and industrial companies in our country can produce high-tech equipment. They were preserved not by miracle or chance, but by the efforts of executives and investors, who modernized technologies managed to keep our best assets afloat. One executive that met such economic feats was Andrey Berezin, the co-owner of Euroinvest.
Prospects For Isolation
The word ‘feat’ is particularly appropriate when looking at the prospects for the country’s development under sanctioning restrictions. No matter how hard some experts try to pretend everything is fine, practice stubbornly confirms the opposite. Exclusion from the international market entails serious, far-reaching consequences. As of yet, there has not been one example of sanctions leading to the destruction of the economy, but in the long term, countries lose enormously in the rate of development.
One of the most common canonical examples is Argentina. This country has always been one of the leading economies of South America, but a little earlier, about 100 years ago, it was utterly comparable to any European country. For example, the per capita GDP in Argentina was equal to that of Sweden, with the rate of economic development coming out higher. This was due to large-scale financial interaction with the U.S. and Europe, which in the XX century has been repeatedly reduced after a series of conflicts with the the States and Europe. Argentina received its first sanctions in the early 20th century, a large package after World War II, and another after the Falklands War.
None of the sanction packages brought about the collapse of the Argentine economy, but each slowed GDP growth by 1-2% year-by-year. Most of them were restrictions on foreign investment and provided access to other markets for Argentine farm products. The result can be seen in the same comparison with Sweden, but today the South American leader is more than twice as far behind.
The standard of living in Scandinavian countries has been steadily going upward; there is not a single parameter left on which to make a correct and favorable comparison. This is called a long-term perspective. Argentina is no longer a rival with anyone, and the Falkland War in the 21st century has become impossible to imagine because the weight categories of the opponents are too different. Many experts anticipate going down the same path if we fail to maintain relations with international leaders.
Andrey Berezin spoke on the consequences that sanctions develop: “No country can cut itself off from the rest, even strong states like China and the United States. The Soviet Union tried, but it failed. Industrialization was carried out on American and German machines. There were still international ties before and during the Cold War; there was imported equipment. That is, there was no complete isolation. At the same time, the Soviet Union had an excellent, the best education in the world, there was personnel, there was a labor organization.”
From this, it is clear to see that Berezin believes education is the key to getting out of the current situation. He knows what he is talking about; he has at least three successful import-substitution projects in the field of high technology that has been implemented in modern Russia to his credit.
A Glimmer of Light in the Healthcare Industry
One of the critical assets of the St. Petersburg businessman is the Svetlana group of companies. It has one of the most extensive holdings in Russia, engaged in developing and producing electrovacuum devices and microelectronic products. At the time of the purchase in 2012, it was an enterprise with a preserved scientific base, though a fragile financial performance. Like many other Soviet industrial enterprises, Svetlana had difficulty entering the market due to a lack of marketing specialists. It is not enough to have competitive products if you cannot sell them.
Andrey Berezin acquired a controlling stake in Svetlana and quickly got down to business. The first thing he did was to readjust the sales system: a year later, the company’s net profit doubled. Non-core assets generating tens of millions of rubles in losses were optimized, such as idle warehouses, unused hangers, and outdated and degraded production areas.
It should be noted that the optimization was carried out with great success. Euroinvest was originally a development company that could implement neighborhood development projects in accordance to European standards. Therefore, Svetlana’s non-core assets yielded a high profit, channeled into several waves of the investment program to upgrade the company’s technical facilities. Consequently, several billion rubles were spent on purchasing equipment and upgrading personnel.
At this stage, Euroinvest had an idea to create an enterprise specializing in venture investments: Euro Venture. This subsidiary began to select the most promising developments for Svetlana’s employees and help them enter the market. In fact, after a large-scale investment program, the holding got its grant competition; the first winner was a robotic complex for noninvasive irradiation of tissues during oncologic surgeries.
In our country, there are simply no analogs to this device; this device allows you to diagnose cancer early and to carry out surgery to remove the tumor while simultaneously irradiating the affected tissues. The basis of the device is Svetlana’s patented X-ray tube, which, through the efforts of its employees, has turned one know-how into a high-tech complex. It has now entered the stage of clinical trials, and at a very high level at the Petrov Scientific and Medical Research Center.
Inevitably, this is not the Concern’s only project, but it is the first one, created from 10 years of hard work by Andrey Berezin. He makes it clear that it just won’t happen. The development of such products, even if there was a base to use, requires many years of work, which should have started not yesterday but the day before yesterday. Furthermore, the state needs to take this factor into account, looking for and supporting those companies which have already passed the test of time and need support to accelerate their developments to the market.
Energy of Movement
Andrey Berezin’s second project started later. It is the Rigel plant that produces lithium-ion batteries, a defense plant whose products are supplied, among other things, for nuclear and diesel submarines. In Svetlana’s experience, unprofitable assets were also sold here, and then several stages of the modernization program were carried out. The company’s task is to improve product quality and enter the civilian market, including import substitution.
There is an old joke that the optionality of their execution compensates for the strictness of the laws of our country. The Government’s plan to bring the share of civilian products in the DIC to 50% by 2030 is one requirement. Some enterprises are just physically unable to do it due to the specifics of production, but the majority is still trying to find a solution. For instance, Rigel is involved in one of the numerous Russian projects of creating electric cars.
Many Russian companies have approached this task differently, but our manufacturers have not yet found a car that can effectively run with an electric motor. The main problem, as can be easily guessed, is batteries. An indicative story is the failed Yo-mobile project, where the energy source changed with every presentation. At first, it was a battery, then a hybrid engine, and there were even mentions of ionic cells, which are hard to imagine in this role.
The situation at Rigel is different. After upgrading production, they took on the project with double the energy. Even all the events of 2022 have not canceled this intention. An agreement with Almaz-Antey was renewed in September, providing a whole line of electric cars. The first of them, E-Neva, has already been presented to the general public. Even Deputy Prime Minister Denis Manturov was at the wheel; they would hardly get so close to the prototype without being sure of the future launch of its production.
Currently, the announced deadline for launching mass production is 2024. While there are already reservations that the deadline may move, it’s still not a ten-year project. This makes the reality clear surrounding import substitution; with a multibillion-dollar industrial giant with government support behind it, a high-tech project takes several years from prototype to market launch. Such flagship projects should appear in all spheres today to bring to the market a replacement for all the brands that went away in an adequate time. At the end of this period, the niche market needs to be filled.
Beautiful Far Away
Import substitution to combat sanctions is an urgent need. Without it, there are already difficulties with the supply of even the most essential goods. Working from scratch, however, could take decades. That is why the state needs to seek out people like Andrey Berezin and his Euroinvest across the country and support their most promising projects. In this case, domestic products in short supply may appear in a few years, which is the most optimistic forecast we can perceive in today’s conditions.
Import-substituting developments are already underway:
- The Svetlana robotic complex for the diagnosis and treatment of oncological diseases
- E-Neva with a Recond battery
- Semiconductors by Recond
- Svetlana ultra-short pulse ice thickness meter
- Microfocus X-ray unit Svetlana
Pingback: How to Cope with the Consequences of U.S. Sanctions: The Euroinvest Experience - Basel Online
Pingback: Smitherman V Cks Prime Investments, Llc, 4 - Vrinda Fertility
Pingback: Construction And Civil Engineering Jobs In Europe | Real Estate
Pingback: Construction And Civil Engineering Jobs In Europe – My Blog
Pingback: Jobs At Bechtel – epithalamic-shouts
Your article helped me a lot, is there any more related content? Thanks!
cialis 40mg pills buy cialis 40mg generic home remedies for ed erectile dysfunction
purchase duricef pills purchase finasteride pills generic finasteride 1mg
diflucan 100mg pills buy acillin without prescription ciprofloxacin 1000mg tablet
estrace 2mg for sale lamictal canada prazosin ca
buy flagyl 400mg without prescription metronidazole pills buy cephalexin 125mg generic
mebendazole 100mg usa order vermox online order generic tadalis 10mg
purchase avana order tadacip 20mg without prescription buy diclofenac pill
buy nolvadex 20mg sale rhinocort generic cefuroxime 250mg canada
buy cheap indomethacin purchase terbinafine online cheap purchase cefixime pills
bimatoprost allergy spray robaxin medication buy desyrel 50mg generic
generic amoxicillin 500mg purchase arimidex generic order clarithromycin 250mg sale
buy generic sildenafil 100mg aurogra 100mg sale buy cheap generic sildalis
catapres 0.1mg drug tiotropium bromide cost generic spiriva
minocycline 50mg capsules brand actos actos 30mg oral
leflunomide buy online buy sildenafil 50mg sulfasalazine 500 mg canada
buy accutane 40mg online cheap buy azithromycin 250mg online zithromax 250mg pill
order azithromycin 250mg online cost gabapentin 600mg buy neurontin 600mg online
ivermectin 12mg online stromectol usa purchase prednisone pill
furosemide 100mg for sale ventolin drug buy ventolin pills for sale
vardenafil pills how to buy plaquenil buy hydroxychloroquine
buy altace 5mg etoricoxib 120mg uk etoricoxib 60mg drug
buy cheap levitra tizanidine online order buy plaquenil pills for sale
order mesalamine 800mg without prescription purchase mesalamine generic buy irbesartan 150mg sale
buy olmesartan olmesartan 10mg usa buy generic depakote over the counter
temovate sale buspirone 10mg uk amiodarone online buy
acetazolamide 250 mg cost imuran medication purchase imuran without prescription
buy digoxin medication buy molnunat 200 mg pills order molnupiravir 200 mg without prescription
generic montelukast singulair 10mg cheap order generic dapsone
olumiant over the counter order generic metformin 1000mg order atorvastatin 20mg sale
nifedipine 30mg us order fexofenadine buy fexofenadine 120mg online
buy norvasc 5mg pills zestril pills prilosec 10mg ca
order dapoxetine 30mg generic cost xenical 60mg xenical 120mg tablet
order generic lopressor 50mg tenormin uk methylprednisolone 4mg tablets
diltiazem without prescription order allopurinol generic zyloprim uk
order aristocort 10mg order triamcinolone 4mg generic buy cheap generic loratadine
buy crestor 20mg crestor where to buy buy domperidone 10mg for sale
ampicillin 250mg oral acillin us metronidazole price
sumycin 250mg uk flexeril canada oral ozobax
how to buy septra buy generic cleocin 300mg buy cleocin 300mg pills
toradol tablet inderal pill inderal order online
generic plavix 75mg purchase methotrexate pills order warfarin generic
buy erythromycin without prescription fildena order buy nolvadex cheap
metoclopramide cheap buy reglan tablets buy esomeprazole generic
order rhinocort careprost drug bimatoprost oral
topiramate oral purchase topamax generic order generic levaquin 250mg
robaxin 500mg sale buy generic robaxin for sale order suhagra online cheap
dutasteride cheap meloxicam cheap brand meloxicam 15mg
sildenafil usa purchase sildalis generic estradiol 1mg cost
buy celecoxib 100mg generic tamsulosin 0.2mg oral buy ondansetron for sale
order lamotrigine 200mg generic minipress pill buy minipress 2mg generic
purchase spironolactone pills buy aldactone pill buy valacyclovir tablets
brand tadalafil 10mg cambia canada indocin 50mg for sale
is cialis generic cialis super active ed pills cheap
buy cheap generic terbinafine buy amoxicillin 500mg generic buy trimox 500mg generic
buy generic sulfasalazine for sale oral azulfidine 500mg calan canada
buy meclizine 25 mg online cheap tiotropium bromide generic order minocycline online cheap
generic molnunat buy generic molnunat online order omnicef 300 mg for sale
ed pills no prescription usa viagra sales order sildenafil 100mg
buy ed medication online cialis price costco order cialis 5mg pills
purchase pyridium online cheap buy generic singulair over the counter order amantadine 100 mg without prescription
avlosulfon generic purchase aceon sale order perindopril 8mg pill
buy erectile dysfunction medicine cialis pills 5mg tadalafil for sale
order generic allegra order amaryl 4mg pill buy amaryl 1mg online cheap
arcoxia 120mg tablet azelastine 10ml drug astelin 10 ml price
order terazosin 5mg generic actos oral purchase cialis without prescription
buy irbesartan 300mg without prescription buy generic clobetasol order buspirone 10mg online
generic cordarone 100mg carvedilol 25mg price phenytoin price
generic albenza 400 mg albenza 400 mg for sale buy medroxyprogesterone 10mg sale
ditropan medication buy amitriptyline online cheap fosamax 35mg canada
order biltricide 600 mg pills cyproheptadine 4mg uk order periactin for sale
purchase nitrofurantoin generic buy pamelor 25mg online cheap pamelor drug
buy glipizide generic order piracetam 800mg generic betnovate 20 gm brand
purchase clomipramine generic purchase anafranil sale prometrium where to buy
purchase tindamax buy zyprexa tablets cheap bystolic 20mg
buy valsartan 80mg online cheap order clozaril pill brand ipratropium 100 mcg
order calcitriol 0.25 mg online rocaltrol 0.25mg ca brand fenofibrate 200mg
dexamethasone 0,5 mg for sale purchase nateglinide online cheap order starlix 120 mg generic
buy oxcarbazepine without prescription uroxatral 10 mg price brand ursodiol
buy capoten without prescription tegretol 400mg cheap tegretol canada
buy bupropion 150 mg generic order bupropion pills buy strattera 10mg sale
ciprofloxacin 500mg canada cost lincocin buy duricef without prescription
order seroquel pills lexapro for sale buy escitalopram 10mg for sale
buy generic lamivudine for sale buy quinapril 10mg online cheap cost quinapril 10mg
where to buy zebeta without a prescription zebeta 10mg pill terramycin 250 mg generic
order keppra 500mg online buy keppra 500mg pill cheap sildenafil pill
purchase ketotifen sinequan 75mg uk buy tofranil 75mg online cheap
tadalafil 10mg over the counter viagra medication sildenafil overnight shipping
brand acarbose purchase prandin sale fulvicin 250 mg uk
buy mintop brand minoxytop buy ed pills tablets
purchase aspirin generic zovirax brand imiquad brand
order melatonin 3mg online cheap order cerazette for sale buy danazol pills for sale
order florinef for sale buy bisacodyl 5mg purchase imodium pills
order duphaston 10 mg online dydrogesterone over the counter empagliflozin 25mg without prescription
cost prasugrel 10mg cost prasugrel 10 mg buy tolterodine pills for sale
where can i buy monograph buy cilostazol 100mg pills cheap cilostazol
buy ferrous sale risedronate 35mg sale buy sotalol generic
mestinon 60mg generic maxalt pills order maxalt 5mg without prescription
vasotec 5mg for sale bicalutamide 50mg cost lactulose brand
betahistine 16mg ca buy generic probenecid online buy benemid 500mg online
buy zovirax generic rivastigmine 3mg for sale rivastigmine price
purchase omeprazole without prescription buy metoprolol 100mg pills buy metoprolol 100mg without prescription
canada pharmaceutical online ordering
buy micardis 80mg pill buy molnupiravir 200 mg molnunat generic
cenforce 50mg pills cenforce 100mg over the counter buy chloroquine 250mg
tadalafil 5mg over the counter order cialis 10mg pill pfizer viagra
buy omnicef sale purchase metformin pill prevacid 30mg generic
order modafinil online order deltasone 5mg without prescription prednisone price
where can i buy symmetrel aczone medication avlosulfon medication
viagra 100mg canadian pharmacy
canadian pharmacies that ship to usa
hard rock casino online roulette online with real money ivermectin 3mg pills
prescription drugs without prior prescription
gambling website brand augmentin 625mg order synthroid 75mcg generic