OREANDA-NEWS. One response to Western sanctions could be the limit of the import of cars, "first of all the used ones," - said the presidential aide, Andrei Belousov, on Thursday. According to him, Russia's response to the sanctions should not hurt, but to support domestic producers and consumers.

At the beginning of August, Prime Minister, Dmitry Medvedev, announced the potential readiness to enter after the import restrictions of food products "protective measures" in the automotive industry and other industries, wrote the newspaper "Kommersant". Then Prime Minister stressed that the response will be "meaningful": the government understands the importance of cooperation in this field, but it is also realistic about "our own capabilities." Following a statement by Mr. Medvedev, Russian dealers made the idea of an alternative response to Western sanctions - they offered to forbid government purchases of all brands from countries that have imposed sanctions, including localized models in Russia.

Import of used cars in Russia is extremely low - it fell sharply after the first increase of duties on used cars in 2008, and then, after the introduction of high-utilization fee in 2012. Executive director of the agency "AUTOSTAT", Sergei Udalov, notes that the import of cars with mileage dropped sharply after Russia's WTO accession. According to "AUTOSTAT", in 2013, the market for used cars was 5.7 million units, in terms of money - 86.1 billion Dollars. At the same time the share of imported cars with mileage - is 0.5% or 28.3 thousand cars. Among them, 54.4% were passenger cars, 28.6% - LCV, 16,9% - trucks. During eight months of 2014 the import of passenger cars with mileage increased by 5.2% to 8,000 vehicles.