The EU spent more on Russian fuel than on aid to Ukraine
24 February 2025 12:40
During the third year of the full-scale Russian-Ukrainian war, the EU spent more money on Russian fossil fuels than on financial assistance to Ukraine. This is stated in a report by the Center for Energy and Clean Air Research (Crea), according to "Komersant Ukrainian" with reference to The Guardian.
Thus, during the third year of the full-scale war, the EU bought 21.9 billion euros worth of Russian oil and gas. This amount is one-sixth 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).
Vaibhav Raghunandan, Crea analyst and co-author of the report, said:
“Buying Russian fossil fuels is, frankly, tantamount to providing financial aid to the Kremlin and supporting its invasion. This practice must be stopped immediately to ensure not only the future of Ukraine but also the energy security of Europe.”
Christoph Trebesch, an economist at IfW Kiel, who was not involved in the analysis, noted that there is a striking difference between the amount of aid donors have mobilized for Ukraine compared to previous wars. For example, European donors spend on average less than 0.1% of GDP per year to help Ukraine.
“Many countries were more generous in past conflicts. Germany, for example, mobilized much more aid and faster for the liberation of Kuwait in 1990/91 than for Ukraine over the same period of time,”
– says the economist.
The report also found that Russia earned 242 billion euros from global fossil fuel exports during the third year of its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, with revenues since the start of the war “approaching a trillion” as the country adapts to sanctions.
Revenues from the oil and gas sector account for up to half of Russia’s revenues. Russia has been quite successful in circumventing the sanctions by transporting fuel in a “shadow fleet” of old and insufficiently insured tankers. According to Crea, these non-transparent vessels account for about a third of fossil fuel export revenues.
Crea researchers estimate that Russia’s fossil fuel revenues could be reduced by 20% by strengthening existing sanctions and closing loopholes. Measures include closing the “refining loophole” through which Europe can buy Russian oil refined in another country and limiting gas flows through the Turkish Stream pipeline.
The report also calls for tighter controls on liquefied natural gas (LNG). Europe has reduced its imports of pipeline Russian gas since the start of the war in Ukraine, but has partially met its energy demand with LNG supplies, including from Russia.
Jan-Erik Fenrich, gas market analyst at Rystad Energy, noted that the role of LNG in the EU and the UK has increased dramatically since the war began, rising from a pre-war high of 81.3 million tons in 2019 to 119 million tons in 2022.
“Russia ranked second among LNG exporters to Europe last year,”
– he said.
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Europe and gas
As of the beginning of 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 eliminated its dependence on 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 205 billion euros worth of energy from Russia.
