Comments by "TotalRookie_LV" (@TotalRookie_LV) on "Auto Industry of the USSR. 1987 RAF Assembly Line in Soviet Latvia #sovietcar" video.

  1. Both parents of my wife worked at RAF plant from 1970s to it's end. Mother in-law has a slight disability and has to attend medical examination each year due to lead accumulation in her body, because, you know, USSR was a country, where "interests of the workers came first", thus work safety was often neglected. Of course their production was no match to second-hand Western busses. For a while they tried to assemble "Gazelle" busses imported as parts kits form Russia, but unlike in Russia, Latvia had no high protectionist import fees, so those were not much more appealing than Ford Transit, VW, Renault, Toyota and others. Besides Russian suppliers had issues of their own, leading to delays, thus they were not reliable partners.
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