Foreign trade relations between the Russian Federation and the European Union: on the «barrier zone» (2019)

The article analyzes current trends that emerged in 2019 in the foreign trade relations of two traditional, historically and geographically quite close counterparties - the Russian Federation and the European Union, which before the start of the EU's sanctions pressure on Russia in 2014 and its concept of retaliatory measures were considered as indispensable partners in the field of foreign trade. This long-standing mutually beneficial cooperation was based on the well-known complementarity of their national economic complexes and the corresponding legal framework. However, it is worth considering the differences in the positions of Russia and the EU in international commodity trade, as the EU remains a leader in the field of world exports, and Russia is inferior to the first dozen of leading exporting countries, while being in 14th place in the rating. Based on the latest official materials published in January-February 2020 by the International monetary Fund (IMF) and domestic customs statistics (FCS of the Russian Federation), the author shows that in 2019 in general, changes in the evolution of international commodity trade that are quite unfavorable for Russia's foreign trade activities have been formed. The growing turbulence in the world economy and global commodity exchange, trade conflicts, the expansion of the zone of action of protectionism and, finally, the widespread use of sanctions as a means of competition - all this negatively affected the dynamics of Russian commodity exports, which was reflected in the results of 2019. The author presents exclusive statistical materials and numerous calculation data that are being introduced into the domestic scientific circulation for the first time.