European Commission: EU has banned 55% of exports to Russia since the beginning of the special operation

The European Union has already banned almost 55% of exports to Russia and over 60% of imports from values ​​up to February 2022 with the imposed sanctions, stated European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen at the G7 summit.

According to her, in monetary terms, the ban on exports is about 50 billion euros per year, imports – about 90 billion euros. The EU is now faced with the task of stopping the re-export of sanctioned high-tech goods to Russia, von der Leyen added.

Formerly von der Leyen informedthat the new, 11th package of sanctions may include a ban on the transit of a number of goods through the territory of Russia, as well as their export to some third countries. Recently, the EU’s trade with some countries has increased dramatically, while the EC fixes a discrepancy between the volumes of goods sent in transit through Russia and goods that end up in third countries, she explained.

According to Eurostat data published at the end of March, in 2022 the EU reduced the export of its goods to Russia by 38% in connection with the hostilities in Ukraine, to 55.2 billion euros (the lowest since 2012). And the import of goods from Russia to the EU last year in monetary terms increased by a quarter – up to 203.4 billion euros. The EU trade deficit with Russia reached a record 148.2 billion euros.

The volume of exports of American goods to Russia in 2022 became a record low and amounted to $1.7 billion, having fallen by about 3.7 times – from $6.4 billion in 2021, follows from the data of the US Census Bureau.