The Ministry of Internal Affairs opposed restrictions for cars with right-hand drive

The Russian Interior Ministry does not put forward or support initiatives to impose additional burdens on right-hand drive vehicles, such as import restrictions and phased replacement of such vehicles, as well as changes to the recycling plan. The official representative of the department, Irina Volk, announced this in her Telegram channel on September 23.

"The Russian Interior Ministry is categorically opposed to any restrictions on the operation of right-hand drive vehicles. Currently, the agency is not developing or planning any draft regulatory legal acts in this area," said Volk.

She noted that the study of safety in the operation of right-hand drive vehicles is provided for in the draft new "Strategy for improving road safety." It is planned to assess the risks caused, for example, by the location of control mechanisms and settings of external lighting devices. The list of possible measures includes educating drivers and improving the quality of their training.

According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, in 2024, the proportion of deaths in accidents involving right-hand drive vehicles in Russia was about 12% of the total number of deaths in road accidents.

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The day before, it was reported that Russia had proposed to gradually change cars with the right-hand drive in the country "to safer vehicles." This initiative was made by the head of the Economic Committee of the Federation Council Andrey Kutepov. He has prepared an appeal addressed to the First Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Denis Manturov.

Later, Nikolai Novichok, a member of the State Duma Committee on the Development of the Far East and the Arctic, said that right-hand drive cars are part of everyday life for residents of Siberia and the Far East, and it is not worth purposefully abandoning the use of such cars in Russia.

Prior to that, on September 3, Sergey Tselikov, director of the Autostat analytical agency, pointed out that a ban on the operation of right-hand drive cars is currently impossible in Russia, since they are massively used by Russians, in particular, in the Far East.

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