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The US president says Europe’s energy bill to Russia exceeds its spending on Ukraine. Euroverify investigates.
ADVERTISEMENTUS President Donald Trump told Congress on Tuesday that “Europe has sadly spent more money buying Russian oil and gas than they have spent on defending Ukraine – by far.”It’s not the first time Trump accuses Europe of feeding Mosocw’s economy through fossil fuel purchases, and of not spending enough to bolster Kyiv’s defences.The US President has also repeatedly miscited the amount of financial assistance the US has provided to Ukraine since the start of the invasion, claiming it dwarfs Europe’s contributions.We verified Trump’s claim Europe spends more on Russian energy than on support to Ukraine against the latest publicly available data. The accuracy of his claims changes depending on whether we take it to refer the financial assistance provided to Kyiv by the European Union (EU) and its 27 member states, or by Europe as a whole.How much has Europe spent on Russian oil and gas?Since the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the EU has slapped a raft of sanctions targeting energy products in a bid to squeeze Russia’s economy and divest from Russian oil and gas, on which several EU countries were heavily reliant before the war.The sanctions include all-out embargoes on the import of coal and seaborne oil.But those measures did not affect shipments of Russian liquefied natural gas (LNG) until the war entered its third year. EU countries are still allowed to purchase Russian LNG but are now prohibited from re-exporting it to other countries.EU members Belgium, France and Spain continue to be major entry points for Russian LNG.Moscow has also been able to evade sanctions on oil imports through its so called shadow fleet of aging, poorly maintained tankers operated by companies that can be traced back to the Kremlin.Research by the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA) – an independent organisation – suggests the European Union’s 27 member states purchased more than €205 billion in Russian fossil fuels, including oil, coal and gas, since the start of the full-scale invasion in 2022.The EU’s annual State of the Energy Union report released last September reveals it still relied on Russia for almost a fifth (18%) of its gas supplies even after the war had entered its third year.CREA says that in the third year of the war, EU countries paid €21.9 billion to Moscow for its oil and gas, reducing the volume of its exports by just 1% compared to the previous year. Other non-European countries, such as the UK and Norway, were much less reliant on Russian energy products before the invasion. These countries have virtually erased energy imports from Moscow, despite allegations crude oil is still reaching their economies through a loophole in legislation that allows oil originating from Russia to be re-exported via India, China and Turkey.How does that compare with aid to Ukraine?If we compare CREA’s data on fossil fuel purchases with the headline figures on support to Ukraine provided by the EU executive, we could conclude Trump’s claim that the EU has spent more on Russian fossil fuels than on financial assistance to Ukraine as accurate.ADVERTISEMENTAccording to the European Commission, the EU’s total financial, military and humanitarian support to Ukraine stands as €133.4 billion.That’s 35% less than the estimated amount spent on Russian fossil fuel imports.We reached out to the EU executive to confirm those numbers, but did not get a response in time for the publication of this article.CREA recently revealed how EU imports of Russian fossil fuels in the third year of the invasion, which amounted to €21.9 billion, surpassed the €18.7 billion in financial aid sent to Ukraine in the same year-long period.ADVERTISEMENTBut the comparison changes when looking at European assistance to Ukraine as a whole.The Kiel Institute for the World Economy, which tracks all aid to Ukraine, puts the total amount of financial support allocated by both the EU institutions and all EU member countries higher than the EU executive’s estimates at €202.6 billion.When we add the support of other European nations, such as the UK, Norway, Iceland and Switzerland, that figure reaches €247.37 billion, €132.3 of which has already been allocated.If Trump can be understood to be referring to European financial allocations as a whole, his claim can be considered misleading.ADVERTISEMENTWhat are European countries doing to reduce reliance on Russian energy?The European Union says it has significantly slashed Russian energy exports since the invasion.The share of Russian gas in EU imports dropped from 45% in 2021 to 18% by June 2024, meaning US exports of gas to the EU has significantly increased.More recent packages of sanctions have aimed to prevent the Kremlin from circumventing those sanctions.CREA says tighter sanctions that undercut Russian countermeasures can slash Kremlin revenues by 20% annually, significantly stifling its capacity to fund its war in Ukraine.ADVERTISEMENT
