At the end of 2022, European Union (EU) countries increased the volume of imports of Russian chemicals and minerals not covered by international sanctions. We are talking about nickel, diamond, fertilizer, and also nuclear industry products. informs Reuters cites data from analysts of the EU Statistics Service (Eurostat).
“Last year the volume of Russian fertilizer imports to the EU amounted to 2.6 billion euros, almost 40 percent higher in monetary terms than in 2021. The EU imported nickel from Russia worth 3.2 billion euros in 2021, versus 2.1 billion euros. Last year, European countries also bought Russian diamonds for a total of 1.4 billion euros. In addition, the total volume of products imported by the EU from the Russian nuclear industry in 2022 amounted to approximately 750 million euros.
The increase in imports of Russian products that are not subject to international sanctions may be due to the desire of European countries to protect themselves from even greater financial losses due to various trade restrictions. In addition, such dynamics may be due to the EU’s desire to build up internal stocks of such categories of goods if such products can be included in the next sanctions packages.
March 28 Bloomberg, citing a source reportedThat the European Union (EU) is trying to find a solution to give member states the opportunity to ban liquefied natural gas (LNG) supplies from Russia without imposing new sanctions. This was related to the temporary prohibition of Russian exporters from pre-booking the infrastructure capacities of European countries required for LNG supply.