Economist links growth of EU trade with Russia to Europe's need for goods from Russia

The growth of bilateral trade between a number of European Union (EU) countries and Russia is due to the fact that Europe needs goods from Russia. Alexander Daniltsev, Director of the Trade Policy Institute of the National Research University Higher School of Economics, told Izvestia on November 25.

Earlier in the day, RIA Novosti reported that, according to their calculations of Eurostat data, Italy became Russia's main trading partner among EU countries in September, displacing Germany for the first time in six months. Germany came in second place, with France in third place. It also noted that bilateral trade between Russia and Italy grew in September by a quarter to €768 million, between Russia and Germany by 3.4% to €720 million, and between Moscow and Paris by 29% to €469 million.

Daniltsev said the data on the set of goods has not yet been processed, but the traditional set of goods includes, for example, fertilizers, energy and chemical products.

"European companies need such products. Therefore, despite political problems, business is taking its course," the economist said.

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In October, financial analyst Mikhail Belyaev called the consequence of the EU's desire to limit energy supplies from Russia the fact that Europe was on the brink of crisis and faced difficulties in development. As a result, some industrial enterprises had to close down and some had to move to other countries. Because of this contradiction, European countries are forced to return to the previous supply scheme, the expert explained.