Secret income: five EU countries increased imports from Russia in the first half of 2026

The EU cannot completely exclude Russia from European trade, despite the sanctions and the policy of abandoning our energy resources. At least five countries of the union even increased imports of Russian goods in the first half of 2026, Izvestia found out after examining data from Eurostat. Bulgaria, Spain and Belgium activated purchases the most, with gas providing the main increase. Brussels is gradually abandoning fuel from the Russian Federation: a complete ban on LNG should be in effect by the end of 2026, and on pipeline gas in 2027. However, even in this case, it will not be possible to completely exclude Russia from European trade, experts are sure.

The European Union continues to trade with Russia

The European Union is expanding sanctions against Russia and systematically displacing it from its trade statistics. Since February 2022, Brussels has already adopted 21 sets of sanctions, the last of which was approved by the EU Council on July 23. A number of Russian metals, ores, chemical products and other goods are subject to new import bans.

Photo: Global Look Press/Elisa Schu/dpa

The restrictions have already significantly changed the trade of the parties. Since 2021, the trade turnover between Russia and the EU has decreased by 77%, from €257.5 billion to €58.1 billion in 2025.

Nevertheless, the curtailment of trade is uneven. Bulgaria, Spain, Belgium, Finland and Slovenia increased imports of goods from Russia in the first half of 2026 compared to the same period last year, according to calculations by Izvestia based on recent statistics from Eurostat.

Imports increased most noticeably from Bulgaria (by 54%), Spain (13%) and Belgium (by almost 10%). Finland and Slovenia have also increased purchases, but much more modestly.

Gas provided the main increase for the three leaders: it accounted for the vast majority of Russian imports from Bulgaria and Spain and more than two thirds of supplies to Belgium. In addition to energy resources, European countries continue to purchase industrial raw materials and chemical products from the Russian Federation: they are especially noticeable in the imports of Belgium, Finland and Slovenia.

Photo: Global Look Press/IMAGO/Zoonar.com/Tetiana Chernyk

At the same time, EU exports to Russia are declining much more slowly. According to the results of the first half of the year, the union states supplied at least €14.8 billion worth of goods to our country, which is about 1.4% less than a year earlier. Germany (€3.43 billion), Italy (€1.68 billion) and the Netherlands (€1.4 billion) remained the largest exporters. Pharmaceuticals account for a significant part of the remaining supplies: Germany alone exported 1.45 billion euros, Belgium - 829 million euros, and a number of countries are simultaneously increasing trade — for example, Sweden's exports increased by 53%.

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It is much more difficult to completely block the supply of medicines and medical technologies than trade in many other categories of goods, said Natalia Eremina, Doctor of Political Sciences, Professor at St. Petersburg State University. We are talking about socially important products: the current EU sanctions provide for exceptions for products related to healthcare and pharmaceuticals. Therefore, a complete ban on European exports under these articles to Russia remains unlikely.

Will the EU be able to avoid gas purchases from Russia

However, the EU is unlikely to be able to completely exclude Russia from European trade, Eremina believes. Even if direct supplies are limited, some goods may arrive through intermediaries and more complex logistics chains. This increases the cost and costs of trade, but does not lead to the complete disappearance of Russian goods and components from the European market, the expert noted.

Photo: IZVESTIA/Dmitry Korotaev

She attributes the abandonment of Russian energy resources, among other things, to the EU's green transition strategy. At the same time, Brussels is striving to reduce dependence on Russia and accelerate the development of alternative energy, including projects in the field of hydrogen, solar and wind generation. At the same time, the question remains whether other suppliers will be able to replace Russian resources in the required volumes.

Europe's dependence on Russian energy resources has indeed decreased significantly. The share of Russian gas in EU imports has fallen from 45% in 2021 to 12% in 2025, and the share of our oil has dropped to about 2%. Nevertheless, last year the European Union still bought about 36 billion cubic meters of Russian gas. Since February 2026, the phase-out of it has already been fixed by law. The new rules provide for a complete withdrawal from Russian LNG by the end of 2026 and from pipeline gas no later than the autumn of 2027.

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At the same time, the mechanism contains insurance in case of problems. If an emergency situation occurs in the EU that causes a serious threat to energy supply, the European Commission will be able to temporarily suspend the ban for up to four weeks.

At the same time, the European Union promises to further strengthen sanctions against Russia. Brussels is preparing the 22nd package of restrictions. As previously reported by Izvestia, it is planned to coordinate it by the meeting of the Council on Foreign Affairs on October 12, although a decision may be made earlier. The main focus is supposed to be not on new large-scale sectoral bans, but on combating circumvention of existing measures.

Photo: TASS/Vladimir Bugaev

The expansion of personal sanctions lists is also among the restrictions discussed. In addition, the European Parliament called for restrictions on the supply of Russian alumina, which is used as the main raw material for the electrolytic production of primary aluminum, to be included in the next package. However, there is no decision on this initiative yet.

In any case, the sanctions are primarily hitting the Europeans themselves. According to the Kiel Institute of World Economy, measures against Russia have reduced the real income of EU countries by about 0.1% on average. The researchers estimate the combined losses of the Union and Great Britain in the first two years of the restrictions alone at about $41 billion. At the same time, the effect varies greatly by country: for Germany, losses are estimated at about 0.15% of real income, for France — 0.05%.

As a result, the European Union is unable to abandon trade with Russia. Direct supplies may continue to decline, but part of the trade will remain and will be rebuilt through intermediaries and new logistics chains. As a result, the restrictions will only result in an increase in the price of goods.