Israel accounts for most of the spirits’ purchases from the sanctioned country, UN statistics reportedly show
Bottles of the Five Lakes vodka are pictured at the Omskvinprom distillery in Omsk, Russia. © Sputnik / Alexey Malgavko
Israel has more than quadrupled purchases of Russian vodka in the last year, reaching $24.7 million on an annual basis and becoming the top importer of the product, RIA Novosti reports.
According to the outlet’s calculations, which are based on data from the UN Comtrade platform, the figure represents a jump from $5.7 million in 2021.
Germany ranked second, reducing imports of Russian vodka from $43.4 million purchased in 2021 to just $7.5 million in 2022. Armenia closed the top three, despite the fact that it almost halved imports of Russian-made spirits from $13.2 million to $6.9 million last year.
At the same time, the United Kingdom, which has been leading the rating for many years, slid to fourth place, with its $5.5 million worth of imports in 2022. London’s purchases of Russia-made vodka once amounted to more than $50 million annually, but it has been reducing its import of the product since 2021.
RIA calculations also show that the top ten consumers of Russian vodka included the United States, Georgia, Azerbaijan, the Czech Republic, Bulgaria and Slovakia.
READ MORE: Russian vodka pulled from US shelves
As part of anti-Russia sanctions adopted in 2022, the US, EU, Japan, and Canada have limited the import of Russian products that they deemed important for the country’s budget revenues. The restrictions also include alcoholic beverages, primarily vodka.
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