Russian exports to Europe fell by more than two-thirds in 2023 as the European Union sharply cut purchases of Russian oil and gas, the Russian customs agency said on Monday.

EU countries have halted the vast majority of their energy purchases from Russia in a bid to put economic pressure on Moscow over Russia's military offensive against Ukraine.

Russian exports to Europe fell by 68 percent to $84.9 billion in 2023, according to the state-run Interfax news agency, citing the Russian Federal Customs Agency.

At the same time, the agency said exports to Asia, which has replaced Europe as the country's main energy customer, rose 5.6 percent to $306.6 billion.

Moscow stopped releasing a large number of economic statistics, including trade data with individual countries, after coming under Western sanctions over the war in Ukraine.

Separate data from China's customs showed two-way trade between Beijing and Moscow reached a record $240 billion last year as trade and political ties between the two countries continue to grow.

Russia's central bank also said last week that yuan holdings in Russian bank accounts exceeded dollars for the first time, as Russia's financial system embraces the yuan in the face of sanctions on the use of the greenback.

In 2023, Russia's overall trade surplus was $140 billion , down 58.5 percent from 2022, when Moscow received huge energy revenues from the invasion of Ukraine that led to a spike in oil and gas prices, and Europe continued to buy Russian energy for much of the year.

Energy exports are a significant source of revenue for the Russian budget, bringing in billions of dollars a month.

Russia's imports from Europe also declined last year, falling 12.3 percent to $78.5 billion, while the value of goods purchased from Asia continued to climb, jumping 29.2 percent to $187.5 billion, according to Interfax.