Brussels – An embargo on Russian energy to stop the war in Ukraine: between talk and action, contracts have nonetheless brought in an average of 42.6 billion euros a year to the Kremlin’s coffers. Specifically, “between January 2022 and December 2025, the EU paid 213 billion euros for Russian fossil fuels”, the Commissioner for Enlargement, Marta Kos, admitted, responding on behalf of the entire College to a parliamentary question tabled by the European Liberals (RE) enquiring how much the EU has contributed to enriching Russian President Vladimir Putin in defiance of the numerous sanctions adopted.
The substantial sum paid by the EU for imports of Russian oil and gas up to the end of 2025, Kos continues, reflects “the Union’s pre-existing energy dependence”, which has been reduced over time. The number and value of payments made to Gazprom, Lukoil and similar companies, the Commissioner stressed, “have decreased significantly over the period”, and therefore from the start of the war in Ukraine onwards, “in line with the EU’s efforts to diversify its energy supplies and phase out imports of Russian fossil fuels”.
Kos provides the EU’s financial report on the energy bill paid to Russia: in light of the political decisions made and the sanctions imposed, while taking into account contracts that remain in force and those signed before the various bans, “payments for Russian fossil fuels fell to
EUR 17 billion in 2025, representing only 5 per cent of the EU’s total fossil-fuel imports and almost
90 per cent less than the EUR 144 billion paid in 2022.“
In short, “EU purchases of Russian fossil fuels have
fallen sharply since the Russian invasion of Ukraine,” Kos pointed out. They have fallen, but they have not been reduced to zero. Not yet. The aim is to reduce Russian energy bills to zero by September 2027.
