On April 7, speaking on POSTV-Analytics, a show of the pro-government media POSTV, the deputy chair of the Georgian Dream party, Levan Machavariani, stated that while the Baltic States urged Georgia to impose sanctions on Russia, they jointly increased their exports to Russia by 25%. He referred to these states as “second-date countries” and claimed that the “deep state” was using them against Georgia.
Levan Machavariani is spreading disinformation regarding the Baltic States. In fact, since the start of the war in Ukraine, exports from Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania to Russia have sharply declined each year.
After Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the EU took a decision to drastically reduce its trade with Russia. As a result, between the first quarter of 2021 and the first quarter of 2024, exports from the EU to Russia decreased by 62% and imports by 85%. The Baltic States joined this effort, which is clearly reflected in their trade data.
- Last year, among the Baltic states, Latvia was the largest exporter to Russia. According to Latvia’s Central Statistical Bureau, the value of exports slightly exceeded one billion dollars and amounted to approximately 1,036,000,000 euros. However, it is noteworthy that in 2021, this figure was about 160 million euros higher. In 2022, export volumes remained nearly the same as in 2021, but in 2023, they declined by around 67 million euros. It is also important to emphasize that, compared to the January-February period of previous years, the value of exports in the first two months of 2025 significantly decreased.
It should also be noted that Latvia’s imports from Russia underwent an even more significant change, and in 2024, they were nearly 4.5 times lower compared to 2021.
2. Estonia has nearly halved its exports. According to its national statistics office, in 2021, the value of goods exported to Russia was 770 million euros. Since then, exports have decreased annually, reaching 420 million euros in 2024. It is likely that this trend will continue in the near future, with the country’s leaders even calling on the EU to implement a full embargo on Russia. Notably, Estonia has almost completely stopped importing from Russia. In 2021, Estonia imported goods worth 2.1 billion euros. By 2023, this figure had dropped to 152 million euros, and in 2024, it fell further to 108 million euros, that is, around 20 times less than the pre-war amount.
3. Before 2022, Lithuania was the largest exporter to Russia among the Baltic states. In 2021, its exports exceeded 4.4 billion dollars. Already in 2022, Lithuania had reduced exports by 1.5 times, and in 2024, the value of goods sold to Russia dropped to 703 million dollars, a 6.2-fold decrease compared to 2021.
The total value of imports from Russia to Lithuania declined even more sharply. While in 2021, this figure exceeded 5 billion dollars, last year, it dropped to 236 million dollars.
According to official statistical data, there is no evidence to support the claim that the Baltic States increased exports to Russia by 25%. On the contrary, the data shows a significant decline. Specifically, Latvia reduced its exports by 13.4%, Estonia by 45.5%, and Lithuania by 84.1%. As already noted, a similar trend is observed with imports as well.
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