- Category
- Latest news
Four EU Nations Paid Russia More for Gas Than They Gave Ukraine in Aid, Greenpeace Report Finds
- Authors
![Photo of Maryna Kulakova]( "Photo of Maryna Kulakova")
Four European Union countries—France, Belgium, Spain, and the Netherlands—paid Russia more for liquefied natural gas (LNG) between 2022, when Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, and 2025 than they collectively spent on aid to Kyiv. This is the conclusion of a study titled “The LNG Trap: Europe’s Fossil Gas Dependence on Russia and the United States”, published on September 30, by the international environmental organization Greenpeace.
According to the report, from 2022 through June 2025, France, Belgium, Spain, and the Netherlands paid €34.3 billion ($36 billion) for Russian LNG supplies. Over the same period, their combined assistance to Ukraine amounted to €21.2 billion ($22.3 billion).
“Despite their efforts, EU Member States continue to import Russian fossil gas to this day,” the study notes. “As gas flowing through pipelines has been curtailed, shipments of LNG by tanker have increased in recent years, continuing to sweep billions from Europe to Russia. This trade is backed by long-term supply contracts signed by several Europe-headquartered energy companies, including TotalEnergies, Shell, Naturgy and SEFE, which secure and extend gas deliveries from Russia to Europe for years to come.”
Russia’s main LNG supplier to Europe is Yamal LNG. Greenpeace estimates that from 2022 to 2024, the company earned $40 billion from fuel sales to Europe, paying roughly $9.5 billion in taxes to the Russian state budget. According to the report’s calculations, that sum could theoretically finance the production of 9.5 million 152mm artillery shells, 271,000 Shahed drones, or 2,686 T-90M battle tanks.
A ban on importing Russian LNG into the EU, set to take effect in January 2027, along with a full prohibition on transactions with Russian energy companies Rosneft and Gazpromneft, are among the measures included in the EU’s 19th sanctions package against Russia, unveiled on September 19 by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
Previously, it was reported that the EU is preparing new measures to speed up its phaseout of Russian LNG, just days after US President Donald Trump urged the bloc to step up efforts to curb Moscow’s energy trade.
