European-style solidarity: €18 billion for Ukraine, €23 billion for Russia
22 May 2025 13:34
Last year, the European Union paid 23 billion euros to Russia for energy. This was announced by European Commissioner for Energy Dan Jorgensen during a speech in the European Parliament, "Komersant Ukrainian" reports citing Radio Liberty.
In general, according to the official, the EU has radically changed the structure of energy imports from Russia, but has not stopped them.
“Until 2022, half of the coal we imported to the EU was Russian. We have completely stopped imports. The share of oil dropped from 27% to 3%. And finally, gas: from 45% of our gas coming from Russia in 2022 to 13% today. However, last year we still paid 23 billion euros to Russia for energy imports,”
– Jorgensen said.
European strategy
However, the EU has a strategy to phase out Russian gas from EU markets by 2027 and other energy resources by 2030.
“Our goal is to minimize the negative impact on energy prices, stabilize energy markets and ensure legal certainty. Therefore, we will move forward step by step,”
– the European Commissioner emphasized.
Jorgensen announced the introduction of new mechanisms for tracking Russian gas on the European market. The European Commission expects member states to develop national strategies for the gradual abandonment of Russian energy resources.
“We recommend submitting the first plans this year to ensure that the transition is safe and prepared. In addition, we will strengthen control over illegal oil entering the market through the Russian shadow fleet,”
– said the European Commission representative.
The official explained that these measures are part of a larger plan to transform trade relations with Russia due to security threats.
“Given this important shift in policy, we do not see any possible scenario for the future use of Nord Stream to transport Russian energy to Europe. This is in the interests of our economic security… We are taking a number of different steps. And all of them lead us in the same direction – to a more secure, sustainable and diversified energy supply,”
– Jorgensen summarized.
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Both yours and ours
In the above quotes, the European Commissioner does not mention why the EU has reduced its consumption of Russian energy. These actions were triggered by Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine and, presumably to a greater extent, the destruction of Nord Stream.
This amount is 23% higher than the 18.7 billion euros that the EU allocated to Ukraine as financial aid in 2024, according to the Kiel Institute for World Economics (IfW Kiel).
Europe and gas
As of early 2022, the EU was 40% dependent on Russian gas. In 2021, 65% of the gas purchased by Germany was Russian. In the third quarter of 2023, only 12% of the gas imported by the EU remained Russian.
At the same time, some EU countries, such as Hungary and Slovakia, remain dependent on Russian gas. These countries’ contracts with Gazprom provide for gas supplies through the Ukrainian gas transportation system. Austria has signed a contract for gas supplies until 2040, but it has already declared that it has become independent of Russian fuel.
After both Nord Stream and the Ukrainian gas transportation system are shut down, Russia will be able to supply gas to Europe only through the Turkish Stream.
According to the Center for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA), since the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion, the European Union has purchased 209 billion euros worth of energy from Russia.
How the EU is “helping” Ukraine
At the Munich Security Conference, the United States made it clear to the European Union that Europe’s security is its own problem. After that, the rhetoric of European officials for several days was filled with loud statements that it was time for Europe to wake up and finally start taking care of its own security.
In the context of the Russian-Ukrainian war, European leaders were racing to generate ideas about how they would support Ukraine and how they would help it achieve a just peace. They talked about peacekeepers (who would be in the rear), about closing the skies over Ukraine with British aircraft, about Taurus missiles, and even about the fact that a significant part of the planned 800 billion-dollar EU defense package would go to Ukraine.
A common position on peacekeepers was not reached, talks about Taurus missiles stopped, and meanwhile the EU is making decisions and taking actions that can hardly be called helping Ukraine defend Europe.
Just a few days after the Munich conference, it turned out that Belgium would hand over 30 F-16s to Ukraine not by the end of 2025, as planned and promised, but by the end of 2028. The reason was announced: The United States is delaying the delivery of F-35s, which are supposed to replace the F-16s in the Belgian military fleet. 30 F-16s is a significant number, and they could significantly improve Ukraine’s position in the sky, including a very significant boost to its air defense system. Now Ukraine cannot count on these aircraft until 2028.
Later, it turned out that the approved 800 billion euro defense package for Ukraine did not include anything special. It only mentions that Ukrainian defense companies are part of the same “pool” as European ones, which means that purchasing weapons from them is a priority along with EU companies.
There will be no more preferential trade regime either.
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