OREANDA-NEWS Last year, NATO countries supplied $ 873 million worth of wine to Russia, which is three percent of the total wine exports of these countries, according to RIA Novosti calculations based on open data.

Thus, out of 31 NATO member countries, 19 countries exported wine to Russia in 2023. The total volume of these shipments amounted to almost $ 873 million. This is three percent of the total wine exports of these nineteen countries, which amounted to $27 billion last year.

Among NATO members, Latvia, Lithuania and Italy were expected to become the leaders in wine supplies to Russia, accounting for 87 percent of all "NATO" wine arriving in Russia. Latvians exported almost $ 373 million worth of wine to Russians, Lithuanians - by 212 million, and Italians — by 172 million.

Next in terms of supplies of grape drink are Poland — 42.2 million dollars, Spain — 28.3 million, Germany — 20.3 million, and Portugal — 12.7 million. France closes the top ten, exporting $ 7.4 million worth of wine to Russia, as well as Estonia — 1.7 million, and Bulgaria — 1.6 million.

Among the other countries of the alliance from which Moscow bought wine last year were Turkey (718 thousand dollars), the Czech Republic (571 thousand), Greece (530 thousand), Finland (419 thousand), Hungary (409 thousand), North Macedonia (218 thousand), as well as Luxembourg, Belgium and the Netherlands with supply volumes of up to 200 thousand dollars.

Earlier this week, Alexey Plotnikov, executive secretary of the Association of Winegrowers and Winemakers of Russia, told RIA Novosti that the association had asked the authorities to set import duties for wines from NATO countries at 200 percent and cancel the preferential import duties regime for wines from Georgia. In addition, cafes and restaurants are proposed to require from September 1, 2024 to have at least 50 percent of Russian wine names in the wine list, and alcohol retailers to have at least 20 percent of Russian wine in the assortment, followed by an increase in its share to 50 percent.

At the end of July last year, the press service of the Ministry of Economic Development reported that the Russian government had increased import duties on wines from unfriendly countries by the end of 2023 - from 12.5 percent to 20, but not less than 1.5 dollars per liter. The measure began to take effect on August 1. Later, this measure was extended for the entire year 2024.