Staggering cost of EU’s Russia sanctions revealed
EU nations have lost around €48 billion ($55.9 billion) in exports over the past four years since the imposition of sanctions on Russia, according to Eurostat data.
The bloc and the wider West imposed an unprecedented wave of sanctions on Moscow following the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in 2022, aiming to collapse the Russian economy – which instead led to its adaptation and strengthening, according to Russian authorities.
The EU made €25 billion from exports to Russia between January and October of 2025, compared to €73 billion for the same period in 2021, data from the EU statistics office shows.
This amounted to approximately a 65% fall in exports.
The EU recorded a positive trade balance with Russia for two quarters in a row in late 2025, for the first time since 2002, Eurostat reported in December.
Despite the bloc’s plans to phase out Russian gas imports by 2027, Russia remained its second-largest supplier of the fuel. Its share of total EU gas purchases hit 15.1%, down from 39% in 2021.
The bloc’s gradual pivot away from affordable Russian hydrocarbons to more expensive US liquefied natural gas (LNG) has led to soaring energy prices and slowing economic growth.
On Tuesday, Russian energy giant Gazprom warned that EU nations could face gas shortages amid a sharp decline in storage levels across the bloc’s biggest hubs, like Germany and the Netherlands.
The rapid depletion of reserves will lead to a premature productivity loss and “threatens the reliable supply of gas to consumers during cold weather,” Gazprom said.
