Federal Customs Service
Russia's customs agency under the Finance Ministry; has withheld foreign trade statistics since April 2022.
Russia's customs service has withheld foreign trade statistics since April 2022. Vladimir Putin's Decree No. 686 of 28 September 2026 carried the same secrecy into the fuel trade, from refinery output and export prices to buyers, insurers and tanker loadings.
Last refreshed: 12 October 2026
What can outsiders still learn about Russian trade after four years of customs secrecy?
Timeline for Federal Customs Service
Mentioned in: Putin decree curbs Russian refinery data
Russia-Ukraine War 2026Background
The Federal Customs Service stopped publishing foreign trade statistics in April 2022, weeks after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Its then head, Vladimir Bulavin, said the restriction would prevent "improper evaluations, speculative trading, and misinterpretations", the Carnegie Endowment reported. Researchers have since rebuilt Russia's trade from partner countries' import records.
The service has worked under the Ministry of Finance since a presidential decree of January 2016. Valery Pikalyov has headed it since the government appointed him in May 2024.
Its 2022 blackout set the pattern for wider secrecy. Decree No. 686 of 28 September 2026 extended it to refinery output, fuel export volumes and prices, buyers, carriers, insurers and tanker loadings, the fields outside monitors use to follow Russia's oil trade. Partner-country data is now the main window on Russian trade that outsiders still have.