Trade News & Analysis

Trade

Russia’s total trade reached about US$745 billion during 2025, also showcasing a significant, albeit shifting, trade surplus of about US$120 billion. In this section we cover all news concerning Russian trade developments, with Russian exporters increasingly reaching out into new markets on a global basis as it pivots away from the West. This is the definitive source on Russian trade. Get the latest data, analysis, and news on Russia’s import/export activities, trade agreements, and increasing commercial partnerships with the Global South.

Featured January 22, 2026

Lavrov Speech: Russia’s Strategic Economic Diplomacy in 2026

On Tuesday, January 20, Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov convened his traditional annual press conference in Moscow to review the performance of Russian diplomacy in 2025 and set out the foreign policy and economic agenda for 2026. At this event—attended by hundreds of journalists—Lavrov emphasized that the diplomatic focus is no longer solely about geopolitical […]

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Featured January 22, 2026

St. Petersburg’s SPIMEX Aims For Competition With The London Metals Exchange

The St. Petersburg International Mercantile Exchange (SPIMEX) is preparing for trading in platinum bullion, SPIMEX president Igor Artemyev has stated, and is collaborating with Norilsk Nickel on the matter. The Russian Ministry of Finance also has a specific interest in organizing the trading, though legislation will be required to permit such trade. Artemyev said, “We […]

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January 21, 2026

The Arctic: Structural Power, Strategic Geography, and the Real Balance of Military Forces in the High North

For much of the post-Cold War period, the Arctic existed outside the main currents of global geopolitics. Covered by ice, distant from population centers, and governed by cooperative mechanisms, the High North was widely perceived as a region immune to confrontation. This assumption has gradually dissolved. Climate transformation, technological adaptation, and global power redistribution have […]

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January 21, 2026

Moldova Launches Procedures To Leave The Commonwealth Of Independent States

Moldova has launched the procedure for officially withdrawing from the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), Foreign Minister Mihai Popsoi has said. The CIS was formed in 1991 after the collapse of the USSR to promote cooperation regarding economic, political, and security issues among the former Soviet republics. It currently includes Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, […]

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January 21, 2026

Russian Global Dairy Exports Up 13%

Russia exported dairy products worth more than US$500 million in 2025, with supplies going to almost 100 countries worldwide, the head of the Agroexport federal center Ilya Ilyushin, said at the third forum of dairy industry leaders in Moscow on Tuesday (January 20). The final sales volumes are likely to be higher, as the December […]

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January 20, 2026

Russian Mergers & Acquisition In Burkina Faso’s Gold Mining Industry

Russia’s Okto Group are negotiating with their fellow Russian mining company Nordgold to purchase a gold mine in Burkina Faso, West Africa. The deal amount for the sale of Nordgold’s assets in Burkina Faso is estimated at being over US$1 billion. According to the latest disclosed data (for 2021), the combined production of Nordgold’s mines […]

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January 20, 2026

Rosatom Preparing To Start Turkiye’s Akkuyu Nuclear Power Plant 

Russia’s Rosatom state owned nuclear power company is preparing to start operation of the first power unit of the Akkuyu Nuclear Power Plant in Turkiye, doing start-up and adjustment work and a comprehensive check of all systems. The final control stage, cold and hot break-in, is expected to be implemented in the near future before […]

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January 18, 2026

How The United States Played Poker With Europe – And Trumped Brussels

The new threats by US President Donald Trump to place an additional 25% tariffs on European exports entering US markets emphasize just how naïve European politicians have been when it comes to international diplomacy and foreign affairs. In threatening such measures should the EU (and specifically Denmark) do not agree to cede Greenland to the […]

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January 18, 2026

Russian Government Submits Myanmar Bilateral Investment Treaty Agreement For Duma Approval

The Russian government has submitted a Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT) agreement on the promotion and protection of investments between Russia and Myanmar to the State Duma for ratification. The agreement establishes a procedure for protecting investments, including procedures for compensating for expropriation and for resolving investment disputes. The agreement was originally signed off by both […]

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January 17, 2026

The End of Easy Growth: Structural Lessons from the 2025 Russia-China Trade Decline

In 2025, Russia-China trade entered a new and more complex phase. After four consecutive years of uninterrupted expansion, bilateral trade turnover declined for the first time since the covid pandemic in 2020. According to Chinese customs data cited by Russia’s Trade Representative to China Alexey Dakhnovsky, two-way trade fell by 6.9% year-on-year, reaching US$228.105 billion. […]

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January 16, 2026

Russia-Namibia Bilateral Relations: 2026 Update

Namibia’s Foreign Minister, Selma Ashipala-Musavyi visited Moscow from January 12 to 14), with the symbolism important but the trade, economics and investment dialogues more vital. Three decades after Namibia’s independence and more than sixty years after the Soviet Union first backed the South West Africa People’s Organisation (SWAPO) during the liberation struggle, Windhoek and Moscow […]

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