Russia is about to join the WTO. Can its industry cope?
Russia’s economy today depends to an alarming degree on pumping and digging things from the ground. Yet the country also has some serious industries apart from oil, gas and minerals. Take the Gorky Automobile Plant (GAZ) in Nizhny Novgorod. It was founded in 1929, when the Soviet Union, keen to create a national motor industry, asked Henry Ford to help set up a huge car factory. It went on to make lorries, vans, military vehicles and cars, including the bulky Chaika limousines given to officials not grand enough for a Zil.
