Konstantin Babkin, co-owner of the Rostselmash group, assessed the situation in Russian agricultural machinery manufacturing as critical. According to him, in the last three years, the industry has seen an escalating decline, and equipment production has roughly halved over three years.

Babkin recalled that in Soviet times, agricultural machinery manufacturing was a leading industry. The world's first mass-produced self-propelled grain harvester, the "Stalinets," was created in the 1930s, and the USSR produced an average of up to 200,000 tractors per year, and up to 600,000 in its best years. Domestic equipment was supplied to dozens of countries around the world, while Chinese and Indian machines were practically absent from the global market. Now China has become a technological leader.

In the 1990s, the industry struggled to survive, and many enterprises perished. In the late 2000s and 2010s, recovery began: new factories were built, new models were released, but this was not advanced development, but attempts to catch up with world leaders. According to Babkin's assessment, a serious decline began in 2023: currently, about half as much equipment is produced as even in 2023. About 10% of production is exported, mainly to neighboring countries.

He noted that the decline is least of all related to sanctions, although they also had an impact. Much more, according to him, the industry was hit by the policy of economic cooling, primarily the increase in the key rate, which led to a radical slowdown in production. Increased taxes and the curtailment of support measures for industry and agriculture also played a role.