MOSCOW, December 21. /TASS/ The share of imports from unfriendly countries to Russia decreased to 29% in 2023 in comparison with 35% in 2022, Russia’s First Deputy Prime Minister Andrey Belousov said on Thursday.

"Limiting Russia’s supply of imported goods was one of the goals in order to destabilize the socio-economic situation in our country. Taking into account the fact that in 2021 unfriendly countries accounted for about 50% of all imports, this was extremely dangerous. But already in 2022, the share of imports from unfriendly countries decreased to 35% and to 29% in 2023," he said.

At the same time, Belousov noted that the total volume of imports has already exceeded the figures for 2021 and has grown to around $300 bln. Belousov clarified that this was reached by launching a parallel import mechanism, through which necessary goods worth more than $70 bln were imported into the country.

At the same time, the share of settlements in rubles and friendly currencies in 2023 increased to 65%. "In 2023, the total share of the ruble and the national currencies of friendly countries will be 65% in payments for the export and import of goods and services. For comparison, in 2021 it was only 22%," he said.

According to Belousov, the volume of Russian exports to the markets of friendly countries in 2023 increased by 60% compared to 2021 and reached $360 bln.

"Starting from 2022, unfriendly countries have been taking consistent actions to create a foreign economic blockade of Russia in order to isolate our country from global markets. This blockade had to be broken, which we did. This is evidenced, first of all, by stabilizing exports. The volume of exports to markets of friendly countries in 2023 exceeded $360 bln, increasing by 60% in physical terms compared to 2021," Belousov said.