I cant make my own phone..
Big difference. I am forced to buy. Russia can make EVERYTHING she imports. As was shown by the communications equipment she made in mere months after the Western contractors left..
But you can make your own phone, you just need to quit your job and spend millions of dollars working out the technology and design concepts and in a decade or two you will have your very own cell phone that is probably no where near as good as a phone you could buy right not from China.
I can understand you don't want to make your own phone, it would take up all your time and focus to achieve something that is not really a valuable thing to master.
Just because you can do everything doesn't mean you should take the time and use the resources to do so.
Strategically critical things like weapons and nuclear things or areas you already have world class capacity in are areas you should continue, but trying to do everything for yourself is a waste of resources when good quality alternatives are available on the international market.
During WWII the Soviet Union received enormous amounts of trucks via lend lease... it would be very stupid to then waste resources making your own trucks unless the trucks you were getting were no good for the climate or the situation they were used in.
Case in point the Tokarev rifle during WWII was not well liked by all Soviet soldiers because it was heavier and more complex and more work to look after than a bolt action rifle. The professional and elite soldiers liked it better than the conscripts liked it. The Germans very much like it.
As was shown by the communications equipment she made in mere months after the Western contractors left..
This is different... when Russia finds a technology they want they will normally buy it, but if the west blocks their access to what they have bought via sanctions then they just ignore the IP rights and property rights and just make it anyway. They don't steal technology and design for fun, they will generally buy it first and take it second.
The west is being hostile by denying Russia access to technology it has paid for, just the same as Ukrainian companies refused to deliver engines and propulsion systems and aircraft that Russia had paid for too... in such a situation Russia will just look at what they have and recreate it so they can continue using it, but often the process of reverse engineering it means you learn its design inside and out and with the clever people they have often they can come up with improvements or completely new designs to do the same job cheaper or better.
Buying foreign technology where there is a gap in Russia is OK, they are buying something they don't already make like Thermal Imagers with Thales or electric trains with German companies or even Helicopter Carriers with the French again... when they stiff the Russians because of petty western sanctions Russia ends up with the western designs and so making Russian alternatives or solutions becomes easier or the technology they have access to can be used as a base to make their own as in the case of the new helicopter carriers they are making or the thermal imaging scopes they are making or the new electric trains they are making.
In the case of cell phones there are lots of different countries that make very good phones and it would be a very difficult market to get decent market share in, though in the case of cell phones they might have a niche encrypted secure phones market perhaps tested and supported by Russian computer security companies that could be used by Russian government users and select high standing businesses as a niche market tool protected from western intel services, but the need for Russia to replace Apple is not there. They don't have a big enough market to make it profitable enough... and I would say the same for motor cars.
For critical infrastructure like chips going into weapons and nuclear power stations and hospital equipment or satellites etc etc then of course Russia should make its own, and it would be a good idea to invest in something beyond what we make now, perhaps photon based electronics with fibre optics etc... but making gamers chips is not going to be profitable or critical... buying from China and as BRICS expands the countries Russia can trade with is only going to massively increase making a lot of things easier.
Russia was also quick to contract Gas turbine development to a Ukrainian firm until something went wrong diplomatically and they told NPO Saturn to do it instead.
To be fair engine and propulsion system and transport plane development was all invested into the Ukraine during the Cold War period and Russia really didn't have any reason to change that for quite some time until Ukraine actually made it necessary. Lots of interesting projects got shelved because they were perceived as potential threats to Antonov designs, the NK-93 propfan was rather interesting too, amongst other aircraft types and ship propulsion systems too.
Russia bought from Ukraine because it was busy rebuilding all sorts of other areas of her economy and industry, so that delay helped take the pressure off having to replace everything at one time.
Russia is expanding its production base into areas it previously subcontracted out to other countries... Belarus was optics and Ukraine was engines and transport planes and various missiles and rockets etc etc, but Russia has done a rather competent job of replacing the important things but also a step further... they are no longer looking at things in isolation.... they are making armoured vehicle families and they are looking at a soldiers kit as a set rather than separate pieces... the result is that their super soldier kits are getting lighter and better and multifunction equipment is replacing purpose built single use items in a range of different roles.
As an example a Naval Spetsnaz soldier used to carry two rifles and two pistols and a grenade launcher... one rifle and one pistol for underwater use and one rifle and one pistol for above water use and a 40mm underbarrel grenade launcher... the new ADS rifle and their new pistols can fire standard 5.45 x 39mm ammo and a special 5,45 x 39mm underwater cartridge, and a 9x19mm normal pistol round and a special 9x19mm underwater pistole round too, so one rifle, one pistol and one grenade launcher. Other equipment and protection and clothing has been upgraded too, including French rebreather equipment which they likely make themselves now that France probably has stopped their licence for it...
Why not just tell NPO Saturn to do it from the onset. Or Klimov.
To be fair both companies have been working hard picking up the slack left by Motor Sich who used to make the engines for Russian helicopters and entire propulsion systems for Russian ships. They have also been working on 5th gen fighter engines, and other projects too.
It culminates into wasted time and money switching suppliers. Its like Russia never learns.
Not at all, while Ukraine was making engines for Russia their engine companies would work on other more pressing things like new engines for Tu-160s and PAKDAs, and of course the new 5th gen fighter engines and of course new engines for PAK DP.
And not to mention the PD range of engines from PD-8 up to PD-35... they are not previous generation old bits of crap like the Ukraine was making and now refusing to deliver... they are state of the art brand new. Russia was also making new engines for the Mi-38 and Mi-26, and plenty of other engines too that they previously had gaps in capability.
Russia can hold its head up high and say it didn't screw western companies or the Ukraine... it was the reverse that is true so Russia can make copies and then next gen replacements for each with a pretty clear conscience.
Until a brilliant Kamaz Director thought it would be good to use Daimler parts (Rear diff), American engines and a German ZF gearbox on the K5 and K6.
Well that was stupid or traitorous... but was the K5 and K6 for Russian customers or for export and trying to appeal to other customers in the west?
Either way buying foreign parts in this case is wrong, I totally agree, just as their airlines buying western planes and western parts for new Russian planes.
I think Putin has the message that the west hates Russia and wants them all dead so perhaps new rules and guidelines removing partnerships with western companies should be made more clear and plain to Russian companies who seem to think all the money in the world is in the west so if you sell to anyone it has to be westerners... of course the reality is that the west is rich because they are bastards and thieves and will screw you every chance they get... like this current conflict.
The sooner Russia realizes her talents m the sooner Russia could eclipse Japan and Germany by PPP and even Nominally if the Ruble grows back to 50RUB a dollar coupled to GDP growth from reindustrialization.
Such measures are BS and tell you nothing at all. When the US gets placed number one all the time you know it is bollocks and not a scale that is worth anything... when the companies that assess such things are based in the US and give such biased numbers then it is worthless.