MOSCOW, October 1. /TASS/. European companies are showing interest in resuming business ties with Russia, the Russian trade mission to the European Union said.
"Despite the sanctions pressure and the European Union’s openly Russophobic policy, we see principled interest from European companies to resuming business ties with Russia," it told the Izvestia daily, adding that such cooperation should be mutually beneficial, long-term, sustainable, and free from the political environment.
According to the mission, trade between Russia and the European Union dropped by 13.2% in the first six months of 2026 compared to the same period last year, to €26.98 billion, a 5.5-fold slump on 2021.
It also noted that, according to various estimates, the European Union’s aggregate losses from its anti-Russian sanctions in 2022-2025 ranged from 1 to 1.6 trillion euro.
"The negative consequences primarily affected capital-intensive and export-oriented sectors, such as the chemical industry, the automotive industry, the machine-building industry, and the energy sector," the mission noted.