MOSCOW, May 12. /TASS/. Russia’s industry avoided a critical downturn in 2020 due to the work of regions, federal departments and enterprises, Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin said delivering a report on the government’s activities in 2020 in the State Duma (lower house) on Wednesday.

"The coordinated work of regions, federal departments and enterprises themselves made it possible to avoid a critical downturn," he said.

Meanwhile, the Russian manufacturing industry managed to achieve the level of 2019 by the end of 2020 despite the coronavirus pandemic, PM noted. "[Russia’s] manufacturing industry was hit by the crisis related to the coronavirus pandemic notably less than the European. In April the whole European industry demonstrated the lowest results in the past 25 years, while in Russia the decline did not exceed 8% and decreased two-fold as early as by June. Whereas by the end of the year we not simply coped with the downturn, but reached the level of 2019," he said.