The Commonwealth of Independent States countries have jointly managed to mitigate the consequences of the West’s sanction policy to the maximum extent possible, CIS Secretary-General Sergey Lebedev said in an interview with RIA Novosti.
“We are managing to respond in solidarity and withstand global challenges and external pressure. Through joint efforts, we are actively advancing import substitution, which has allowed us to minimize the consequences of the unfriendly sanction policy”, stated Sergey Lebedev.
According to him, cooperation in industrial, agricultural, and other economic sectors is yielding positive results.
“Collaboration in energy, transport, and communications – sectors where cross-border interaction is particularly significant – ensures their uninterrupted operation and broad realization of transit potential. Thus, despite sanctions restricting transit cargo flows, 1.1668 billion tons of freight were transported to the West via Commonwealth railways in the first nine months of 2025, with freight turnover virtually maintained at the 2024 level. Conversely, the number of passengers carried in international traffic even increased by 13.6%, reaching 8.4 million passengers”, noted the CIS Secretary-General.