MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The Russian government could introduce restrictions on the import of certain foreign defense products in order to support domestic manufacturers, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said Wednesday.
"We will provide the defense enterprises with different preferences, including an opportunity to subsidize loans. I will not rule out that in several cases such preferences could include prohibitions to import several foreign products just to support our own producers… Of course not at the expense of interests of certain industries of citizens, but in order to support domestic production," Medvedev said in an annual report to lawmakers.
According to Russian President Vladimir Putin, in 2017 Russia is expected to spend some 3.3 percent of the federal budget on the "National Defense" section. The country's Defense Ministry expects to spend some $24 billion to implement the state arms procurement program this year.
