Europa ist immer noch irgendwie von Russlands Energie abhängig

A December report from the Center for the Study of Democracy (CSD) concluded, “Although Russian fossil fuel exports to the West have decreased, glaring loopholes in the sanctions’ regime persist.” Nowhere are the failings more prominent than with liquified natural gas (LNG). In 2024, the EU imported a record 16.5 million metric tons of LNG from Russia, surpassing the 15.2 million in 2023.

EU countries, led by Germany, have done much to truncate their Russian energy dependencies. Between early 2022 and the end of 2023, the EU slashed its imports of Russian fossil fuels by 94 percent, from $16 billion per month to around $1 billion per month, according to Belgian think tank Bruegel. Coal imports are nil. But countries across the bloc are still buying energy supplies from Russia and thus paying straight into Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war chest.

When it comes to Russian LNG, which is not sanctioned and remains a bargain compared to imported U.S. super-chilled gas, Europe has even regressed. According to the Financial Times, EU countries’ imports from Russia—led by France, Spain, the Netherlands, and Belgium—reached an all-time high in 2024.