Trade between the EU and Russia falls to a 25-year low, though Slovakia is buying more Russian goods.

Russia continues to lose economic ties with its once-largest trading partner, the EU, and according to August’s results, deliveries of goods to Russia from European countries decreased by 18% compared to July, to €2.5B, as shown in Eurostat data. Measured against trade volumes from before Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the Russian economy has lost two-thirds of imported EU goods, when European imports were €7-8B per month in 2021. Russia’s total trade turnover with the bloc in August fell to 1999’s level, amounting to €5.1B.

At the same time, in August Slovakia became the largest-growing buyer of Russian goods among European countries. In August, Bratislava increased its purchase of Russian products by 110% to €320.9M.

Germany remains the largest trading partner of the Russian Federation, despite a 17% decrease in trade in August to €696.3M.