Trade between EU and Russia collapses to historic low – intelligence
Trade turnover between the European Union and Russia at the end of 2025 fell to the lowest level in recorded history, and Russia has effectively lost its status as one of the key trading partners of a united Europe.
According to Ukrinform, the Foreign Intelligence Service of Ukraine stated this on its website.
"Compared to the fourth quarter of 2021 – the last full quarter before the start of Russia's full-scale aggression against Ukraine – mutual trade fell 5.4 times, or by approximately 81.5%," the statement said.
The Foreign Intelligence Service noted that from the first quarter of 2022 to the fourth quarter of 2025, EU exports to Russia decreased by 61%, while imports from Russia collapsed by 90%.
In particular, Russia's share in the structure of the EU's external exports fell from 3.2% to 1.2%, and in imports – from 9.2% to 1.0%. Thus, Russia has effectively lost its status as one of the key trading partners of the united Europe.
"Europe is currently recording a steady trade surplus with Russia. In the fourth quarter of 2025, the EU's positive balance amounted to EUR 1.5 billion. For comparison, in the second quarter of 2022, the EU's deficit in energy alone peaked at EUR 42.7 billion. By the end of 2025, this figure had fallen to EUR 3.3 billion as a result of the oil embargo, a sharp decline in Russian gas supplies, and lower energy prices," the intelligence service noted.
At present, trade between the parties is maintained only in a narrow range of goods.
According to the agency, Russia continues to receive pharmaceutical products, certain types of machinery, and plastics from the EU – goods that either fall under humanitarian exemptions or have not yet been included in sanctions lists.
The loss of civilized sales markets, reduced access to European technologies, investments, and financial infrastructure are gradually narrowing opportunities for the modernization and long-term development of the Russian economy.
"The reorientation towards alternative markets does not compensate for the loss of the European direction in terms of the quality of partnerships or the volume of capital and technological cooperation. In the strategic perspective, this means for Russia a deepening of structural isolation and growing dependence on a limited circle of countries, which does not replace full integration into the global economy," the Foreign Intelligence Service concluded.
The agency also emphasized that for Ukraine, the reduction of economic ties between the EU and Russia is an important element of sanctions pressure that reduces the aggressor's financial resources to continue the war.
As Ukrinform previously reported, key economic data have been removed from open access in the Russian Federation, indicating efforts to conceal the real state of the economy.