Russian pharmaceutical exports to the European Union increased sharply in September 2025, but this data may not reflect the actual growth in medicines supplies, Antonina Levashenko, Head of the Gaidar Institute's International Best Practices Analysis Department, told Izvestia .
The expert drew attention to the statistical methodology, noting that Eurostat’s category of "medicines and pharmaceutical products" includes more than medications alone.
"These statistics may actually show that it is not just and not so much the export of medicines that has increased, but also, for example, the export of dietary supplements and other pharmaceuticals, which the EU could, among other things, purchase from Russia," explained Antonina Levashenko.
Furthermore, the expert notes that Russia is not a major supplier of medicines to the European Union, falling behind countries, such as the United States, Switzerland and China. Antonina Levashenko also added that "customs statistics only reflected trade flows," and that alongside the increase in imports from Russia, exports of European drugs to the Russian Federation could also have increased.