Germany’s imports of goods from Russia fell by 95% in the 2021-2024 period while its exports of goods to Russia were cut by 72%, the country’s statistics office Destatis reported on Wednesday.(11 June)    The European Union as a whole cut its imports from Russia by 78% and exports by 65% over the same time frame, leading to a trade deficit of 4.5 billion euros ($5.1 billion) in 2024 compared with 147.5 billion euros in 2022, Destatis added.

 “The main reason for the continued import surplus in 2024 was that the EU continued to import oil and natural gas from Russia to a significant extent,” Destatis wrote in a report.

Despite avoiding Trump’s U.S. tariffs, Russia, whose trade with the U.S. and EU has sharply declined due to sanctions over its ongoing war in Ukraine, has seen its economy perform better than expected during the three-year conflict. However, it faces a period of lower oil prices and shrinking budget revenues.

Russia has cut its forecast for 2025-2027 oil and gas export revenues in April, a key source of funding for the state budget, due to weaker oil prices, expecting proceeds to fall by 15% this year, according to an economy ministry document seen by Reuters.   According to the European commission, in 2020, the European Union was Russia’s largest trading partner, accounting for 36.5% of its imports and 37.9% of its exports.

The European Commission has proposed an 18th package of sanctions against Russia for its invasion of Ukraine, aimed at Moscow’s energy revenues, its banks and its military industry, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Tuesday.