Russian government replaces Aurus with “sanctioned“ BMW 7-Series. In the center of Moscow, near the "Ukraine" hotel, the latest flagship of the Bavarian brand G70 was photographed, which has a blue flashing light and a special registration number.
Cars with license plates a***mr97 are known to be used only by heads of federal ministries and deputy prime ministers. Curiously, just two months ago these same numbers a007mr97 were fitted to a 2022 Aurus Senat.
The current generation of the BMW 7-Series is not officially available in Russia, but the Russian government has apparently somehow managed to get its hands on a richly equipped sedan that even has an M-package.
The modification is still not completely clear, but based on indirect evidence, it can be assumed that the choice fell on the eight-cylinder version of the BMW 760i xDrive (544 hp and 750 Nm).
Another curious thing is that in 2020 the flagship BMW M760Li (G12) was spotted with the same license plates a007mr97, so the user of the new "week" clearly has experience driving luxury Bavarian sedans.
Like the previous "week", Aurus Senat with this number was used by the so-called "Support Center" - an institution subordinate to the Ministry of Economic Development of the Russian Federation and created to support the activities of federal executive bodies and organizations located in the government building. Apparently, the new seventh series is also included in this structure.
It is strange, however, that after the appearance of the Aurus in state garages, it is no longer common to exchange Russian premium sedans for foreign cars, especially now that the sanctions against Russia are in force.
However, foreign cars are still being bought in small numbers: both the Mercedes-Maybach S-Class in the Z223 body and the BMW i7 electric car in the G70 body have been spotted being used by the special services.