Despite the European Union’s ban, introduced in summer 2022, on exporting Christmas trees to Russia, Danish firs are still being sold in the country and used in holiday displays in central Moscow. As journalist Yulia Kulikova reported for the project Vetter, the trees continue to reach the Russian market through re-export schemes.
In late November 2025, spruce trees from Perm region were delivered to Red Square, and in December the display is expected to be supplemented with firs from Denmark. According to Vladimir Borisov, co-owner of the Elki.Biz store, Danish trees are also purchased by TSUM, Petrovsky Passage and the Bolshoi Theatre. He says his company’s representatives still travel to Denmark and select the required trees directly on plantations.
“A supplier showed us recommendations from the European Christmas Tree Growers association not to sell trees to Russians. We have a supplier who ignores that, asking only that it not be publicized,” Borisov said.
The Danish Christmas Tree Growers Association told Vetter that in 2021 Denmark sold 250,000 Christmas trees to Russia and another 30,000 to Belarus. Denmark remains the world’s largest exporter of fir and spruce trees: of 11 million trees grown annually, 9.3 million are shipped abroad. In 2024, these exports brought the country 160 million euros.
Klaus Jerram Christensen, the association’s managing director, said direct exports to Russia and Belarus are now prohibited, and the trees likely reach those markets via Turkey, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Poland or other countries. Russian sellers say that in 2024 some shipments moved through Kazakhstan, while now they more often pass through Poland and Belarus. Another method is false transit, when goods are declared for a third country but in practice remain in Russia.
Imported trees have become much more expensive since sanctions began. According to Elka.biz owner Vladislav Pukharev, a Danish fir now costs about 8,000 rubles per meter, and prices for such trees have tripled since 2022. Even so, he says up to 90% of demand at his markets still falls on Russian-grown trees.