Russia Import Data 2026: Flows, Rerouting & Buyers

Russia bought $279 billion of goods in 2025 against $418.3 billion of exports, leaving a $139.3 billion surplus that shrank 8.17% year on year, per the Federal Customs Service's full-year tally. The catch for anyone working with Russia import data: Moscow classified its detailed customs ledger in April 2022, so shipment-level truth now lives in partner-country records and mirrored trade data. This guide covers what still gets published, how sanctions rerouted flows through Turkey, the UAE and Central Asia, why the India corridor just set a $68.7 billion record, and how to turn all of it into a ranked list of Russian importers.

What does Russia import data show in 2026?

Imports into Russia ran $279 billion in 2025, down $3.8 billion year on year, while exports fell $16.2 billion to $418.3 billion, per customs service figures reported by TASS. Asia supplied $185.9 billion of the import bill, two-thirds of everything Russia bought.

The regional cut is the cleanest view the customs service still releases:

Note what Europe's line says. Three years into sanctions, Europe still accounts for $72.3 billion of Russian imports, more than any region except Asia, and much of the sanctioned share of that flow moves through intermediaries rather than direct lanes. More on that below.

Who are Russia's biggest trading partners?

China, by a wide margin: $228.1 billion of two-way trade in 2025, per Chinese customs figures. India follows with a record $68.72 billion in FY2024-25. EAEU neighbours Belarus and Kazakhstan plus Turkey fill out the top tier in partner-country records.

The China number is the story to watch, because it fell 6.9% in 2025. Chinese shipments to Russia dropped 10.4% to $103.3 billion as car demand cooled, and Russian sales to China slipped 3.9% to $124.79 billion on cheaper crude. A shrinking China share is precisely when other suppliers get their meetings.

Why Russia import data went dark in 2022

In April 2022 the Federal Customs Service suspended publication of import and export statistics, with its then-head citing the need to avoid "speculation and discrepancies regarding imports", per The Moscow Times. Aggregate reporting later resumed, which is where the regional table above comes from, but named consignees, detailed HS lines and manifest-level Russia import export data stayed classified.

Researchers adapted fast. Bruegel's Russian foreign trade tracker reconstructs the whole picture from partner-country statistics: what China, Turkey, India or Germany report shipping to Russia is, by definition, what Russia imports. Commercial trade platforms do the same thing at shipment level, matching partner-country records and licensed mirror datasets to recover company names where disclosure rules allow. If you are new to reading the other side of a trade ledger, start with how customs data reveals buyers.

Russia stopped saying what it buys. Its trading partners never stopped saying what they sell. Mirror data is just reading the other side of the same ledger.

Parallel imports: the $25 billion workaround

Russia legalised parallel imports in 2022, letting listed foreign-branded goods enter without the trademark owner's consent. The trade ministry projected $25 billion of parallel imports for 2025, and the mechanism is now extended through 2026, though monthly volumes have halved from about $4 billion at launch to around $2 billion as domestic and "friendly-country" substitutes take over.

Then there is the rerouting nobody legislated. CEPR research found circumvention through third countries offset roughly a third of the sanctions-driven drop in European exports to Russia during 2022-23, with Turkey the single biggest hub for restricted EU-origin goods. Armenia's exports jumped 193% in 2022 and Kazakhstan's 30%, per Oxford Economics figures cited by FPRI, before tighter enforcement cut rerouted flows to about 8% of pre-war levels by late 2024. For exporters the lesson is compliance, not opportunity: if your goods can reach Russia through Turkey or the UAE's re-export hub, you need to know your end buyer before regulators tell you.

India–Russia trade: a record $68.7 billion, and lopsided

Bilateral trade reached $68.72 billion in FY2024-25, up from $13.12 billion in FY2021-22, per Department of Commerce figures. Almost all of it flows one way: India imported $63.84 billion, dominated by crude oil (HS 2709), and exported just $4.88 billion. In June 2025 India took 80% of Russia's seaborne Urals shipments, and April–November FY2025-26 imports already show crude at $35.76 billion and fertilisers (HS 31) at $2.11 billion, per IBEF.

The export side is where the room is. Indian machinery (HS 84) shipments to Russia were worth $479.52 million and pharmaceuticals (HS 30) $319.94 million in April–November 2025. Set that against Russia's roughly $9.7 billion annual pharma import bill, of which India supplies only about $546 million, per NatStrat, and the shape of the opportunity is obvious. New Delhi is pushing to widen the export basket as Western suppliers exit, and both governments are targeting $100 billion by 2030. Pharma exporters who work this corridor start by checking which Russian distributors already import Indian generics, then sort out payment mechanics, since advance payment and rupee-rouble settlement are still the practical reality on many lanes.

Every Western brand that left Russia left a purchase order behind it. The importers who used to fill those orders are still there, and they are findable by name in mirror data.

How do you find Russian importers?

Since Russia publishes no consignee-level records, you work from the partner side. The sequence export teams actually use:

1. Fix your HS code first. Russia follows the standard 6-digit system; get the chapter right or every downstream filter is noise. New to this? Read how HS codes work.
2. Pull mirror data. Partner-country export records show shipments into Russia with product, value, volume, and Russian importer names where available.
3. Rank Russian importers by consistency. Twelve steady shipments beat one giant order; consistency signals a distributor with working payment channels.
4. Screen everything. Check counterparties and intermediaries against OFAC, EU and UK sanctions lists before the first email, not after the LC opens.
5. Verify payment terms. Confirm settlement currency and banking route up front; a buyer with three years of import history has solved this already.

Exporters targeting Russia usually build a data-backed buyer shortlist this way rather than waiting for trade-fair introductions that may never come.

How ShipScout helps

ShipScout puts 11B+ shipment records across 240+ countries behind one search box, including the Russia import data trail visible through partner-country and mirrored records, so the sequence above takes minutes:

1. Search your product or HS code with Russia as destination and see real shipment flows, values, and origin countries.
2. Rank the buyers. Get Russian importers ordered by shipment count and volume, not directory listings.
3. Profile before pitching. Open any company in the importer directory to see trade history, sourcing countries, and product mix.
4. Reach out with contact intelligence where available, and lead with the buyer's own import numbers.

Russia's official ledger went quiet, but the trade itself is loud, and the names behind it are recoverable. Start a free trial and pull your first ranked list of Russian buyers today.