Economic relations with Germany

Economic relations between Russia and the Federal Republic have been affected by the economic crisis. This is particularly visible in the trade figures: in 2009, the value of German exports to Russia fell by 36 percent compared with the previous year. The value of imports fell by 30 percent in the same period. In 2009, the Russian Federation was thus only Germany’s third most important trading partner in eastern Europe after Poland and the Czech Republic. The situation has since eased: In the first nine months of 2010, bilateral trade grew by 28 percent.

Around 6,100 German companies now have subsidiaries and representative offices in Russia. That is around 150 more than in 2009, so the economic crisis has not led to a decline in German involvement. And contrary to the general trend, German businesses significantly increased their investments in Russia in 2010, by 2.5 billion euros compared with 2009. German companies currently have 16.7 billion euros invested in Russia. Germany has thus moved up to fourth place, behind Cyprus, the Netherlands and Luxembourg.

The most important bilateral investment project in the past twelve months was the Nord Stream gas pipeline, construction of which began on April 9, 2010 in the Russian Portovaya Bay near the Finnish border. The 1220-kilometer gas pipeline from Russia to the German Baltic coast is scheduled for completion by the end of 2011. The operator consortium includes the German energy companies Wingas and E.ON Ruhrgas.