German Trade with Russia Plummets by 95% Since Ukraine War Began
According to the most recent data from the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis), German trade with Russia has experienced a historic collapse since the start of the conflict in Ukraine, with imports having dramatically decreased by 95%.
Russia was Germany’s main trading partner prior to the conflict, which started in February 2022, mainly as an energy supplier.
However, imports from Russia fell from 5.6 billion euros in the first quarter of 2022 to just 0.2 billion euros in the first quarter of 2025.
The long-term effects of EU sanctions, Germany’s strategic energy realignment, and the escalating political tensions between the West and Moscow are highlighted by this steep fall.
As Germany acted quickly to lessen its reliance on Russian gas and oil, the biggest decline was in imports of fossil fuels.
Instead, Germany has increased its imports of LNG from nations such as the United States and Qatar and made significant investments in solar, wind, and hydrogen energy.
This change has been referred to by the administration as a “necessary acceleration of energy sovereignty.”
“The figures demonstrate how fundamentally German trade with Russia has changed,” said a spokesman for the German ministry of economics. It is almost insignificant now.
The fall in imports signifies a significant change in Germany’s geopolitical and economic strategy, even if German exports to Russia have also decreased as a result of sanctions and export limits.
Stronger links with Eastern Europe, Asia, and North America have displaced Russia, which was earlier rated eleventh among Germany’s commercial partners, in the rankings.
This pattern suggests that, if political and economic priorities continue to shift in reaction to international turmoil, German trade with Russia will probably stay low for the foreseeable future.
DW News
