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Volkswagen CEO says Russia-West relations will improve soon

Martin Winterkorn earlier said the Russian market was very important for the German auto giant, noting that Volkswagen assumed Russia could become Europe's largest car market in the current decade
Martin Winterkorn AP Photo/Paul Sancya
Martin Winterkorn
© AP Photo/Paul Sancya

BERLIN, March 3. /TASS/. All sides would benefit from improved relations between Russia and the West, the chief executive of German carmaker Volkswagen said on Tuesday.

CEO Martin Winterkorn told German TV channel ZDF "everyone will be glad" if Russia and Western powers could reach a "rapprochement".

"I believe there will be a breakthrough soon," he said, adding that: "We expect that the relationship with Russia will be good again."

Winterkorn previously said that the Russian market was "very important" for the German auto giant, noting that Volkswagen assumed Russia could become Europe's largest car market in the current decade. The company planned to make investments in Russia of up to €1.2 billion through 2018. Starting from 2006, it has already invested about €1.3 billion in the country’s car production.

German engineering conglomerate Siemens also aims to continue its work in Russia despite sanctions imposed by the United States and the European Union over the crisis in Ukraine.

"The head of our company, Joe Kaeser, has continually stressed that the political decision [on sanctions] is determinative. It is true," a Siemens spokesman told TASS. "But we stick to our commitments and want to implement our contracts."

When asked about the impact of the sanctions and extreme fluctuations in the value of the Russian ruble against the US dollar, the spokesman said the current atmosphere influenced Siemens indirectly rather than directly, affecting "investment sentiments" of its customers.