02 february 2024 — 16:30
The supply of medicines and medical equipment from Estonia to Russia has increased 600 times since February 2022. Exports of medical equipment, including those intended for ERR blood transfusion, have increased sharply, citing data from the Estonian Tax and Customs Department, Delovoy Peterburg reports.
If 5.6 tons of medicines were exported to Russia through Estonia in 2021, then in 2022 — 1,190 tons, and in 2023 — almost 3,400 tons.
We are mainly talking about transit shipments from European pharmaceutical companies and distributors who use Estonia as a corridor for the delivery of goods to the Russian Federation. Estonia also provides brokerage and logistics services for them.
Estonian pharmaceutical companies exported 260 tons of medicines of their own production to the Russian Federation, which is 50 times more than the volume of supplies until 2022.
Estonian pharmaceutical companies explain the continuation of cooperation with Russia on humanitarian grounds, the publication says.
According to Eesti Ekspress, the volume of supplies of medical equipment from Estonia to the Russian Federation in 2022-2023 amounted to 57.5 million euros in monetary terms, while only one Estonian company Ecliptica Baltic OY exported goods worth at least 13.6 million euros — mainly blood transfusion equipment.
The Narva–Ivangorod checkpoint on the Estonian-Russian border was closed on February 1 at least until the end of 2025.
In Estonia, it was predicted that traffic at the border would decrease by about 20%, while the closure of the border crossing became a big problem for Estonian cargo carriers: only in Narva, several dozen transport companies are engaged in road transport to Russia, for which the way to St. Petersburg will become much longer and more expensive.