Europe’s Russia rhetoric doesn’t match its trade ledger

The European Union has championed sanctions against Russia and pressured other countries to isolate the nation. The European bloc's trade with Moscow remains robust, nearly matching India’s, a country it has routinely criticised for doing the same.

Data from 2024 shows that the European Union's total trade with Russia stood at $70.3 billion. India, often portrayed as one of Moscow’s key post-invasion trade partners, traded $72 billion worth of goods during the same period. While India’s engagement with Russia has largely been dominated by energy, with $59.5 billion worth of fuel imports accounting for over 80% of the total, Europe’s trade with Russia tells a more complex story.

The EU may have scaled back its oil trade—down to $24.2 billion in 2024, less than half of India's intake—but its trade with Russia in certain categories is much higher. Trade in chemicals alone stood at $17.6 billion, nearly six times India’s $3.1 billion. Metal trade with Russia reached $6.7 billion, over nine times India’s $0.9 billion. The EU also traded in $5 billion worth of food products and $4.4 billion worth of machinery and electronics.

EU’s imports of chemicals at $3.01 was almost double that of India’s, while its metal imports from Russia were nine-fold higher at $5.5 billion.

Even on the export front, the EU’s involvement with Russia remains extensive. In 2024, it exported $34 billion worth of goods to Russia, more than seven-fold the $4.9 billion exported by India. These included food and machinery. In 2024, European Union provided $5 billion worth of food to Russia, sent $3.7 billion for machinery and electronics and $14.6 billion of chemicals.