Page 96 - RusRPTMay19

light vehicles. The traditional centres of the Russian automotive industry are located along the River Volga from Samara to Yaroslavl. In addition, special arrangements have been made for foreign companies, especially in Kaluga, Kaliningrad and St. Petersburg. The dip in the vehicle market has a great local impact in many small communities. For example, about 700,000 people live in the town of Toljatti and 37,000 people are still working at the AvtoVAZ plant even after major redundancies.
Germany’s Volkswagen and Russian carmaker GAZ Group have resumed negotiations on expansion of their partnership in car production as the US may soon lift its sanctions from the Russian company, Bloomberg reported on April 16. The companies are discussing a significant Volkswagen’s investment in Russia as it expands presence on emerging markets, Bloomberg reports. The GAZ plant remains under the sanctions regime which would prevent the deal going ahead, however, the view of the market seems to be that sanctions on Deripaska are being progressively withdrawn. In early March, the German company cancelled negotiations over acquisition of a stake in GAZ, reports PRIME.
Traffic police officers ranked the regions according to the number of victims of road accidents in 2018. The Krasnodar Territory turned out to be the leader of the list, where 1,053 people died, RIA Novosti reports with reference to these departments. It is followed by the Moscow region - 938 people, the Rostov region - 554 dead, Bashkiria - 550 and Moscow - 465. Also the top ten included the Voronezh region (443 dead), the Stavropol region (439), the Leningrad region (438), the Chelyabinsk region (410) and Nizhny Novgorod region (386). In the list of regions leading in the number of victims in road accidents, Moscow is in the first place - 10,469 people, followed by Krasnodar Region - 8675, St. Petersburg - 7693, Moscow Region - 7259 and Nizhny Novgorod Region - 7021. Chukotka with two killed in an accident and the Nenets Autonomous District with three accident victims turned out to be the safest for drivers. Also in the rating of safe regions were the Magadan region - 30 dead, the Jewish Autonomous Region - 32, the Altai Republic - 36, the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous District - 45, the Kamchatka Territory - 49, Ingushetia - 60, the Kostroma Region - 64, and Khakassia - 65. In total, in 2018, according to traffic police data, 18,214 people died in road accidents on Russian roads, and 214,853 people were injured. In 2017, the traffic police predicted a sharp increase in those killed in traffic accidents after 2018 due to aging drivers and car fleets, uncontrolled motorization of the population against the background of continuing problems in the economy and a number of other factors. According to the traffic police, Russia annually loses 2% of GDP as a result of accidents.
96 RUSSIA Country Report May 2019 www.intellinews.com