The Ukrautoprom association, uniting Ukrainian vehicle manufacturers, expects that the interagency commission for international trade would soon consider its claim against discriminative actions of Russia's GAZ Group on the Ukrainian bus market and hopes Ukraine would launch a countervailing probe into it.

"Ukrainian bus manufacturers this year were passive this year, as non-Ukrainian buses won all tenders to buy buses using budget funds [PAZ Mriya]. This is unfair competition. A month ago we submitted a complaint to the Economic Development and Trade Ministry against discriminative actions of GAZ Group that using subsidies from the central budget of Russia and various forms of unfair competition is actively operating on the Ukrainian market," Ukrautoprom Head Mykhailo Reznyk said at a press conference of Etalon Corporation in Kyiv on Thursday.

Etalon Corporation President Volodymyr Butko said that Mriya buses that AIS Group presents at tenders are actually Russian bus PAZ (Pavlovo Bus Plant of GAZ Group makes them). AIS Group wins tenders as it sets the lowest price of buses, including thanks to support of the Russian manufacturer from the Russian budget.

"Of course, we cannot compete with a bus costing UAH 800,000 or UAH 900,000, while the price of our bus is UAH 1.4 million. First PAZ receives support from the state and secondly they have a conveyor line (700 units a month), which makes it cheaper," Butko said.

He said that the localization level should be used as the condition for tenders to buy buses using budget funds should be included. This would help to remove unfair rivals.