"I think that by the end of this year the government will introduce a legislative act that requires automobile producers to equip their new vehicles with GLONASS/GPS navigators," Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov said at a news conference on the GLONASS system.

He emphasised that the requirement would pertain to both Russian-made vehicles and foreign cars made in Russia, such as Toyota, Ford and Volkswagen.

Ivanov added that the Transport Ministry planned to start charging a fee for the use of federal roads by vehicles with a load capacity of more than 12 metric tonnes in 2012. He said that special equipment based on the GLONASS system would be designed for such vehicles and that the Transport Ministry had announced a competitive bidding for this project.

In addition, the deputy prime minister told journalists that foreign manufacturers are prepared to supply dual-frequency mobile phones equipped with GLONASS/GPS chipsets to Russia.