Nearly five years into the Ukraine war, CREA data show the EU remaining a major buyer of Russian energy, accounting for 48% of LNG and 32% of pipeline gas exports from December 2022 through September 2026 while still sourcing 12% of its gas from Russia, down from 45% pre-invasion.

Russian LNG export revenues hit a near-four-year high and oil-and-gas tax revenues are projected to rise about 10% year-over-year, even as the Commission disputes Kremlin figures on total payments since 2022.

Trump’s October deal for Russian diesel and a 60-day sanctions pause drew criticism from Kyiv and Brussels, while the EU is on track to miss its end-2026 LNG phase-out deadline amid winter storage pressures and longstanding dependence that earlier warnings had highlighted.

The world is approaching the five-year mark of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The Eastern European conflict does not appear to be coming to a close anytime soon, much like the war in Iran. Nobody knows what a peace deal looks like at this stage, but despite Brussels thumping its chest and condemning Russian President Vladimir Putin, the European Union is still addicted to Russian energy. Still, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is signaling his eagerness for a peace plan.

Got Any More of That Russian Energy?

The Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA), using multiple........

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