Trade between Russia and the European Union has plummeted to its lowest level on record, as sanctions, energy decoupling, and sanctions bite, Izvestiya reported on December 2.

According to figures released by the Russian Mission to the EU cited by Izvestiya, mutual trade turnover in the first half of 2025 amounted to just €30.9bn — down 8.3% y/y – down from a peak of €250bn in 2008 at the height of the noughties boom years.

Over the six-month period from January to June, imports of Russian goods to the EU fell by 10.5% to €16.1bn. European exports to Russia dropped by 5.7% to €14.8bn.

The cumulative impact of sanctions, rising tariffs, and the EU’s pivot away from Russian energy has been profound: trade turnover between the two economies has declined by 74% since 2022, when it stood at €257.5bn. In 2024, it was already down to €67.7bn.

Officials and analysts attribute the downturn to a combination of the EU’s extreme sanctions regime, its phase-out of Russian oil and gas since 2022, and the imposition of additional customs duties. The broader result has been a near-collapse in the economic relationship that underpinned EU-Russia integration for decades.

Yet, despite the collapse in volume, the EU remains Russia’s third-largest trading partner, according to Bild. In particular, the EU remains addicted to Russian exports of oil, gas, raw materials and chemicals, which it has struggle to replace. The sanctions regime in particular is a patchwork of compliance and exceptions as some member states try and avoid the boomerang effect of sanctions on their own economies.

Germany has cut its imports of Russian goods by 92% since the war in Ukraine began, but still maintains bilateral trade worth $9.5bn. Meanwhile, France and the Netherlands each sustain trade flows above $6bn.

Hungary stands out as an outlier in the EU. Imports from Russia rose by 31% this year, reaching $6.2bn, in contrast with most other member states. Trade volumes with the Czechia, Slovakia, Spain, Belgium, and Italy have fallen significantly compared to pre-war levels.

As trade with Europe dries up, Russia is accelerating efforts to reroute its commercial ties toward Asia and other politically aligned economies, as part of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s big bet on the Global South Century.

“Russia is successfully reorienting its foreign trade flows toward cooperation with friendly countries,” the Russian mission said in a statement. The pivot includes deeper engagement with the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), the Eurasian Economic Union (EUU) and increasingly with the BRICS bloc that has emerged as a result of the East-West divide.

While the decoupling is damaging in the near term, Russian officials argue that it may ultimately foster a more diversified and resilient trade architecture less dependent on Western markets. For Brussels, however, the collapse represents a fundamental break with its previous strategy of economic interdependence with Russia, long seen as a pillar of post-Cold War diplomacy and fuelling European prosperity thanks to the unlimited supplies of cheap energy and raw materials, not to mention access to by far the largest consumer market in Europe.