BUDAPEST, Aug 3 (Reuters) - Hungarian drug maker Richter reported a net profit of 76.5 billion forints ($195.66 million) on Wednesday, above expectations, as Russia remained the company's second-biggest market and it also maintained operations in Ukraine.

Sales revenues grew dynamically in the first half of 2022 across all markets except Ukraine, as revenues were lifted by outsized gains from exchange rate movements combined with price increases, Richter said in its earnings statement.

"The Russian business remains steady and recent RUB strength helped both the topline and margins," Richter CEO Gabor Orban said in the statement.

Richter has experienced pressure from Ukraine to "rethink" its presence in Russia but the company was not leaving as it provided medicine for 12 million Russian people, Orban was quoted as saying last month.

Richter, which makes gynaecological, cardiovascular and central nervous system drugs, has been gradually working to limit its exposure to the Russian market and former Soviet Union countries through an expansion in western markets in past years.

The company said on Wednesday that shipments to Russia have broadly returned to their pre-war levels and are made via road freight transport through Belarus.

Sales to Russia increased by 26.4% in Hungarian forint terms in the first half of the year.

Commercial operations disrupted in Ukraine in late February were only resumed in mid-April at significantly lower levels compared with previous sales volumes, Richter said.

Sales to Ukraine in the first half of 2022 declined by 33.9% in euro terms, the company said.

($1 = 390.9900 forints) (Reporting by Anita Komuves, Editing by Louise Heavens)