By Kirill Bessonov on mnweekly.ru If you ask a Westerner his opinion about Russian cars you will most likely hear the following joke: Lada engineers suggested a new anti-theft device for their products - an enlarged logo plate. And these jokes usually date back to the Soviet era. Paradoxically, Russia has a proven track record of high-tech achievements in various other spheres. Russia's space program is out of this world (NASA has just extended the contract with Roskosmos to deliver crews and cargo to the ISS with Russian spacecraft); Russian weapons - from rifles to combat jets to submarines - are very popular on the international market, where Russia trails only the US in total volume of exports. This begs the question as to why a developed, high-tech nation cannot provide its citizens with decent cars - and then export them abroad. The Moscow News asked the press service of the Russia's biggest carmaker, OAO AvtoVAZ, for their comments. When asked why Russian cars are not po...