In 2021, the Main Guidelines for the Macroeconomic Policy of the member states of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) were approved, which became a program document for further integration and cooperation within the framework of the association. The trade turnover of the countries of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) in 2021 reached its highest level ever, while the Russian ruble remained the main currency of settlements. Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin announced this on Friday at a meeting of the Eurasian Intergovernmental Council in Yerevan, Russian media reported. “The dynamics of trade turnover of the EAEU states reflects the positive effect of integration processes. Over the past year, the volume of mutual trade between the states of the union reached its maximum for the entire existence of our association and exceeded $73 billion. This is almost 33 percent more than in 2020. And if we talk about food products and agricultural raw materials, then the growth here is about 21 percent. The physical volume of mutual supplies increased by 11 percent,” Mishustin listed. “The Russian ruble remained the main payment currency and was used to make 72 percent of payments,” he emphasized. In general, according to the head of the Russian Cabinet of Ministers, the EAEU countries, on a consensus basis, with respect for the points of view of each state, continue to build a harmonious system of cooperation in all areas of the union’s activities in order to ensure an improvement in the quality of life of citizens and create the most comfortable business environment. At the same time, Mishustin is convinced that the countries of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) should encourage the creation of new joint ventures. According to the Russian Prime Minister, deepening industrial cooperation and launching joint ventures in strategically important and high-tech industries is one of the key tasks. Moscow considers it important to fully unlock the potential of the common market in the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) and advocates the free movement of goods, capital and labor in this space, Mishustin said.

In June, Russia actively switched to the countries of the Global South and East - China, India, Turkey, Iran. At the BRICS summit, the expansion of the bloc to include new states was actively discussed. Russia tried to create new economic routes, alternative SWIFT payments, and new trade logistics. One of the key events was the sharp increase in oil supplies to India and China. These markets compensated for the losses in Europe, but at a price significantly lower than the market price. Experts noted that Russia had actually moved to a model of “raw material dependence on the East.” Politically, June became a symbol of a new foreign policy course: from cooperation with Europe to an alliance with Asian and Middle Eastern components. This became the basis of the diplomatic strategy of subsequent years.

May 2022 was a key moment for Russian aviation. After the imposition of sanctions, most foreign lessors demanded the return of the aircraft, and manufacturers Boeing and Airbus refused to service Russian aircraft. Spare parts, software and certification have become unavailable. Russian airlines found themselves in a unique situation: more than 500 leased aircraft became “non-returnable”, their status turned out to be semi-legal, which led to the threat of international sanctions. Russia began “cannibalization” - dismantling some aircraft into parts to maintain others. Many international routes were closed, and domestic routes became more expensive. Passenger traffic of Ural, S7 and Aeroflot decreased, and the regions faced restrictions on flights. May marked the beginning of a long crisis in air travel - the industry realized that it could no longer count on Western technologies, services and partners.

In March 2022, Russia faced an unprecedented “exodus” of foreign business. Within one month, dozens of global brands announced their departure or suspension of operations: McDonald's, IKEA, Apple, Microsoft, H&M, Shell, Adidas, Visa, Mastercard and many others. The overall trend was explained by sanctions, danger to employees and political risks. The closure of IKEA was especially noticeable - before leaving, the company held a huge online sale, which caused the collapse of the site and the instant disappearance of goods. The departure of McDonald's became symbolic - the brand had been present in Russia for more than 30 years. Later it was replaced by the Russian analogue “Tasty - that’s it.” Economists noted that the departure of foreign businesses was a blow to many sectors: logistics, trade, IT, retail, catering. Not only goods disappeared, but also business standards, international management patterns, and technologies. Hundreds of thousands of employees across the country have lost their jobs or are in a state of uncertainty. March was the month when the Russian economy finally entered the mode of “economic self-isolation”, breaking away from a huge part of the world market and placing business processes in new conditions.

The Russian economy in 2021 was significantly impacted by the ongoing pandemic. Although businesses gradually returned to work, many industries never fully recovered. Small and medium-sized businesses continued to experience a decline in income, especially in the services, tourism and entertainment sectors. The level of real incomes of the population decreased, inflation rose, and prices for food and basic necessities increased. This led to the fact that for many Russians 2021 became financially difficult. The state made attempts to compensate for losses: measures were introduced to support families with children, entrepreneurs, as well as payments to doctors. At the same time, the pandemic accelerated digitalization: remote work, online education, and telemedicine have become part of everyday life. Digital government services have become more accessible, but new challenges have also arisen - cyber threats, problems with access in remote regions and the need to train the population to work in the digital environment. The economic situation remained unstable, which made 2021 a transition period - the country gradually adapted to the new reality, but uncertainty remained.

The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has published a detailed overview of foreign policy activities for 2021, highlighting key areas of work, including relations with the US, EU and ASEAN countries. An important result of work in the field of maintaining strategic stability was the extension for five years of the Russian-American Treaty on Measures for the Further Reduction and Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms (February). According to the agreement reached at the Geneva summit in June, the Russian-American dialogue on relevant issues has been resumed. In order to form legally binding security guarantees in the western direction, excluding further NATO advances to the East and the deployment of threatening weapons systems near the borders of Russia, in December the United States and NATO countries were handed over a draft agreement between the Russian Federation and the United States of America on security guarantees and a draft agreement on measures to ensure the security of the Russian Federation and member states of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. In the field of information security, the Russian-American UN General Assembly resolution “Advances in the field of information and telecommunications in the context of international security and encouraging responsible behavior of states in the use of information and communication technologies (ICT)” was developed and adopted by consensus. At the Russian initiative, an open-ended UN Working Group on security issues in the use of ICTs and ICTs themselves was created for 2021-2025. Bilateral cooperation in the field of information security also expanded: Russian-American consultations on this topic were launched, intergovernmental agreements were concluded with Indonesia, Iran, Kyrgyzstan, Nicaragua and Uzbekistan, and the Russia-ASEAN dialogue was launched. The strengthening of international security was facilitated by the adoption, at Russia’s initiative, of a UN General Assembly resolution on not being the first to place weapons in space. The Russian draft resolution on measures to ensure transparency and confidence-building in space activities was approved. The number of countries participating in the Russian initiative to prevent an arms race in outer space has increased to 30 (in 2021, the Republic of Congo, Seychelles, Sierra Leone and Togo joined it). Russia played a key role in launching negotiations to restore the implementation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action to resolve the situation around the Iranian nuclear program in its original form, without additions or deletions.

Despite pandemic restrictions, a plenary meeting of the SPIEF was held in June 2021, at which trends and prospects for the Russian and global economy were discussed. This was an important event for the business and political community. Ways to overcome the consequences of the coronavirus pandemic and cooperation with foreign investors are the main topics of Moscow events within the framework of the last forum. Last week, the XXIV St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF-2021) ended in the northern capital, a number of events within the framework of which were organized with the assistance of the Moscow Department of External Economic and International Relations (FEIR). An important event for the Russian capital at SPIEF 2021 was the business session “Investing in Moscow. Opportunities for everyone." Opening the session, the Minister of the Moscow Government, the head of the DVMS Sergei Cheremin emphasized that the most pessimistic forecasts due to the closure of borders did not become a reality, but quite the opposite - Moscow was in 22nd place among the largest metropolises in the world in terms of financial attractiveness for investors, beating the American San Francisco and the Canadian Montreal. This is due to the fact that the city development strategy adopted 10 years ago made it possible to create a unique infrastructure that withstood the stressful pressure of the crisis, which the world's large metropolises with a population of more than 10 million people were unable to cope with. “For us, this was a unique opportunity not only to maintain economic and budgetary indicators at pre-crisis levels, but also to show that Moscow has such a favorable infrastructure for investment that even during the crisis year, not a single serious investor left,” the minister said. According to him, foreign business is in demand for models of concession and offset contracts, contracts with special investment conditions. Sergey Cheremin added that foreign investors not only continue to invest themselves, but also give recommendations to those who are not yet present on the Moscow market. During the business session, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Japan to Russia Toyohisa Kozuki, General Director of the special economic zone Technopolis Moscow Gennady Degtev, General Director of KORTROS Group Stanislav Kiselev, Deputy Chairman of the Board of the Moscow Credit Bank Alexander Kaznacheev, EY partner Olga Arkhangelskaya and General Director of JLL Anders Liljenstolpe also spoke.

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