Germany announced the EU's entry into the top three trade partners of the Russian Federation

The European Union (EU) took the third place in the list of Russia's trading partners, despite the sanctions. This was reported on October 25 by the Bild newspaper with reference to a study by the German Economic Institute (Institut der deutschen Wirtschaft, IW).

"The European Union has become Russia's third largest partner," the article says.

Despite Western sanctions, Russian exports in 2024 showed impressive growth of 18% (adjusted for inflation), reaching $330 billion. Although trade with individual EU countries such as Germany has declined significantly (to $9.5 billion), total trade with the EU amounted to about €67.5 billion, making it the third largest regional partner. At the same time, imports of Russian goods to the EU fell by 92%.

While France and the Netherlands maintain a consistently low level of trade (more than $6 billion), countries such as Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Spain, Belgium and Italy have significantly reduced export volumes compared to pre-sanctions 2021. Hungary, being a smaller European partner, saw a 31% increase in imports, reaching a trade volume of about $6.2 billion.

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The US Treasury has imposed restrictive measures against major Russian oil companies.

On October 23, the head of the European Diplomacy, Kaya Kallas, announced that the EU had adopted the 19th package of sanctions against Russia. She noted that the restrictions are aimed, in particular, at Russian banks, cryptocurrency exchanges, organizations in India and China. At the same time, the European Union will restrict the movement of Russian diplomats.

Later, on October 24, the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, reported that Brussels had diligently "scratched its head" to fill out the 19th package of sanctions against Russia, the EU did not believe in the success of these restrictions. The Russian Foreign Ministry also added that Russia will give a tough response to the EU sanctions package.

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