The EU countries spent more for fossil fuels from Russia last year than for financial aid to Ukraine. This is the result of a study by the CREA research institute.
Despite all sanctions and efforts to become more independent of Russian oil and gas, the EU imported only one percent less fossil fuels from Russia last year. The value of this import of oil, gas and oil products has decreased by six percent to 21.9 billion euros, according to the Center for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA).
The independent research institute from Helsinki announced that the expenditure on Russian energy in the third year of the invasion of the 18.7 billion euros granted the EU granted Ukraine.
Russia finds a lot of customers
Russia’s exports to fossil fuels put the CREA at 242 billion euros, three percent less than 2023 and eight percent less than before the invasion of Ukraine. Moscow consolidated trade relations with non-European partners. The three largest customers of China, India and Turkey are responsible for 74 percent of Russian revenue from oil, gas and coal.
According to the institute, the so -called shadow fleet plays an important role in the bypass of the price limits introduced by the western countries. In 2024 it transported about 61 percent of overseas oil exports worth 83 billion euros.
Europe remains an important buyer for Russian energy
Since the beginning of the invasion, Europe has made significant progress in the energy independence of Russia, said EU MP Thomas Pellerin-Carlin. The import share of Russian oil and gas fell from 45 percent in 2021 to 18 percent last year. Nevertheless, a quarter of the corresponding income from Moscow from Europe still came.
This was also due to the high expenses of individual EU countries for Russian liquefied gas, which in the third year of the invasion would have been seven billion euros, the CREA. The exceptional permits for the EU members, Slovakia and the Czech Republic, which were strongly dependent on Russian oil, also played an important role.
While the proportion of Germany is close to zero, the study Hungary, France, Slovakia and Spain are worth the largest buyer of fossil fuels from Russia.
