Russian government liquidates trade missions in Lithuania and Ukraine
The decision on Ukraine is associated with the adoption by Kiev in August of a resolution terminating the intergovernmental agreements with the Russian Federation on the mutual establishment of trade missions.
The Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation proposed to close the representative office back in September, at the same time the department prepared a corresponding draft government resolution.
According to the Federal Customs Service of the Russian Federation, trade turnover between Russia and Ukraine decreased by 41.5% to $ 4.843 billion.
The Ministry of Industry and Trade also considered the work of the trade mission in Lithuania unpromising.
As the ministry emphasized, trade turnover between the countries in 2020 decreased by 31% compared to the previous year, while there are no prospects for expanding mutual trade.
They also noted that Lithuania's foreign economic policy "does not contribute to the building up of trade ties with Russia," and cited as an example the suspension of the work of the Intergovernmental Russian-Lithuanian Commission on Trade-Economic, Scientific-Technical, Humanitarian and Cultural Cooperation in 2014.
There are now 58 countries left in the updated list of states in which Russian trade missions are established.