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The Russian counter-sanctions have negatively impacted separate sectors of the Latvian national economy, and current calculations show that these counter-sanctions have caused the Latvian economy losses of 0.25% of GDP, according to a report from the Foreign Ministry.

Despite this, the worsening of the Russian economy has caused greater damage to Latvia's economy – 0.6% of GDP. Furthermore, total export to Russia has fallen by 20%.

However, Latvia's total export continues to increase, including the EU member states, as well as a 20% increase in export to third countries.

As reported, in February 2014 Russia occupied the Crimean peninsula that belonged to Ukraine. In March, Crimea was annexed. Over the past months, Russia has also been backing a bloody separatist movement in Eastern Ukraine.

In response to Russia's aggression in Ukraine, the EU, the United States, and other Western countries have imposed sanctions against Russia's top officials, Kremlin associates, and Russia's financial, defense, and energy sectors.

This was followed by Russian counter-sanctions prohibiting the import of EU food products.