The machine tool industry of Russia at a time of war and sanctions

The article is devoted to an analysis of the development of the Russian machine tool industry before and after Russia’ invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. It reviews the history of the industry in the USSR, its collapse in the 1990s and stabilisation in the early 2000s. Prior to Russian’s annexation of Crimea in 2014 and the imposition of sanctions by Western countries the government had already adopted policies to secure a revival of the industry on a more independent basis and some success was achieved. After 2014 the government’s efforts to restore the industry intensified and the scale of output of metal cutting machine tools steadily increased. However, there was still a significant dependence on imports, especially of the most advanced types of equipment. After the start of the war in 2022 sanctions were rapidly intensified and more countries participated. Quite rapidly, imports from Western countries were replaced by imports from China and other non-sanctioning countries. The development of the domestic industry received new priority and output increased. By the end of 2023 the situation had to some extent stabilised. Notwithstanding sanctions, the Russian defence industry has been able to acquire the machine tools it needs, although not always of the highest quality.