Moldova "joins" the Russian sanctions team, Moscow vows to respond; EU-Moscow trade plummets

On November 29, the official spokeswoman of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, announced that the country will respond to Moldova's decision to join the sanctions against Moscow.

Nga tuyên bố sẽ đáp trả quyết định trừng phạt của Moldova

Russia has announced that it will respond to Moldova's decision to sanction it. (Source: Aebrus)

Ms Zakharova called the decision "a hostile step that threatens Russian-Moldovan relations".

Previously, on November 15, Moldova's Minister of Foreign Affairs and European Integration Nicu Popescu announced that the country had joined four sanctions packages against Russia.

He also noted that the Moldovan authorities are considering the possibility of supporting other anti-Russian measures and their potential impact on the country's economy .

* Latest figures from the European statistical agency (Eurostat) show that seasonally adjusted values show that Russia's share in European Union (EU) imports fell from 9.5% in February 2022 to 2% in September 2023.

The share of exports from this bloc to Moscow also decreased in the same period, from 3.8% to 1.4%.

The highest trade deficit with Russia was recorded in March 2022 and amounted to 18.6 billion euros due to high prices of energy products, however, the trade deficit has decreased significantly since then, Eurostat said.

Natural gas, oil, nickel, iron and steel as well as fertilizers account for about two-thirds of the 27-member bloc's total imports from the sanctioned country.

While Russia’s share of imports of those products “decreased significantly,” the bloc increased purchases of natural gas and oil from the United States, Norway, Algeria and Saudi Arabia.

The EU has imposed 11 rounds of sanctions on Russia since the start of 2022. These sanctions are aimed at weakening Moscow's economy by depriving it of access to key technologies and markets.

In response, Russia has redirected much of its trade to Asia, primarily India and China.

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