The EU has increased purchases of Russian metal despite loud statements about sanctions
23 July 2025 16:40
Despite the regular statements by European officials about tough sanctions against the Russian economy, the actual figures show something quite different. According to GMK Center‘s data based on Eurostat statistics, from January to May 2025, EU countries imported 2.57 million tons of steel products from Russia. This is even 1.1% more than last year.
European companies spent €1.06 billion on Russian metal, which, although 14.7% less than last year, is still a huge amount of money that goes to the budget of the aggressor country.
Who buys Russian metal the most
The most active buyers of Russian semi-finished products were:
- Belgium – 554.6 thousand tons.
- Italy – 358.9 thousand tons.
- Czech Republic – 294.1 thousand tons (up 48.9%!)
- Denmark – 251 thousand tons.
The growth in pig iron imports is particularly impressive, up 68.5% to 697 thousand tons. Russia received €254.45 million for it. Italy is also a leader here, having purchased 524.6 thousand tons of Russian pig iron.
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Double standards in action
It is significant that even in May 2025, when the whole world was watching the escalation of Russian aggression, the EU continued to make active purchases. In May alone, Europeans purchased almost 455 thousand tons of steel products from Russia for €190.27 million.
GMK Center analysts emphasize that last year, the total amount paid by the EU to Russia for metal exceeded €2.5 billion. This is a clear indication of European sanctions and assistance to Ukraine in general.
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, and therefore the purchase of weapons from them is a priority along with EU companies.
At the same time, it turned out that 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. During this time, 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 has allocated to Ukraine as financial assistance in 2024.
There will be no more preferential trade regime either.
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