According to the Munich Institute for Economic Research Ifo, after the start of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in early 2022, EU exports to Russia fell to 37% of pre-war levels. This was reported by Spiegel, UNN reports .
Details
It is noted that one of the reasons for the still high volume of exports to Russia is that only 32% of all EU goods are subject to sanctions.
As for luxury goods, for example, the export of champagne to Russia is subject to sanctions, but not Prosecco,
In addition, many of the EU's sanctioned goods may be supplied to Russia indirectly through third countries, according to estimates from the new Ifo sanctions database.According to the Ifo Institute, about a third of the sanctioned goods are not available in Russia compared to the pre-war period due to export restrictions imposed by the EU and other Western countries.
For the Russian Federation, China is the most important alternative country of origin for products that have been sanctioned: 61 percent of these goods originate from China. In 2021, this share was only 35 percent. 13 percent of all goods under Western sanctions come to Russia from Turkey, up from just under 3 percent in 2021.
From Armenia, Russia also now receives a small share - about 1 percent - of all sanctioned goods. During the same period, exports from the EU to Armenia doubled.
In the case of China, the increase in exports to Russia can be at least partially explained by the growth of domestic production. However, in the case of Turkey and Armenia, the sudden and sharp increase in exports to Russia raises suspicions of sanctions evasion,
According to the latest data from the Federal Statistical Office, German exports to Russia fell by about 38 percent over the year to about 0.8 billion euros in November 2023. Accordingly, in November, Russia was ranked 16th among the most important destination countries for German exports outside the EU. In February 2022, a month before the attack on Ukraine, Russia was in 5th place.
Recall
On December 18, the EU Council officially adopted the 12th package of economic and individual sanctions against Russia, including a ban on the import, purchase or transfer of diamonds from Russia.