In this paper, we regard public procurements as an instrument used by the state for indirect support of enterprises. In this context, we have posed the following questions: what place do the public procurements occupy in the system of relations between business and the state? Can we regard them as a component in “the system of exchanges” between enterprises and authorities? To  what extent do public procurements are combined with measures for direct support of enterprises? To answer these questions, we used the data from a survey
of enterprises conducted by the Institute for Industrial and Market Studies at the National Research University  – Higher School of Economics in 2009. Our analysis gives us grounds to believe that as economic development of a region rises, direct support of enterprises declines giving way to indirect support by means of public procurements.