France, Nov. 14 -- Whilst President Vladimir Putin has made economic and industrial independence a strategic priority, Russia remains heavily dependent on medicines manufactured abroad, particularly in the West. Medicines are exempted from Western sanctions on humanitarian grounds.

A survey published by Bloomberg, based on data from the Russian research firm DSM, shows that 56 percent of spending on medicines in Russia during the first eight months of this year was on imported products.

In 2022, at the start of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine imports of medicines accounted for 57 per cent of expenditure. In other words, Russia's dependence on foreign medicines has barely diminished in the last four years.

'Working in Russia is ...