Despite war and sanctions… Russia maintains its position as the second largest gas supplier to Europe
An annual report showed that Europe is still heavily dependent on Russia as a major source of energy.
In contrast, parties within the European Union are seeking to impose sanctions on Russia and stop importing gas from, with the aim of reducing dependence on Russian resources and enhancing the diversity of energy sources.
The European Union still relies on Russia for about a fifth of its gas supplies, despite a significant decline in Russian supplies since the start of the Russia-Ukraine war in 2022.
The EU energy commissioner, Kadri Simson, hesitated when asked whether the EU was prepared to include Russian gas in a list of banned imports from Russia to punish it.
Simson said the bloc was committed to gradually weaning itself off Russian gas, adding during a meeting with reporters in Brussels that Europe would be able to secure the energy it needed.
She explained that Russia has lost any influence it previously had over the European Union by controlling its largest gas supplies.
The Energy Commissioner said companies could legally import from Russia as long as no sanctions were imposed on Moscow, as she unveiled the annual report on the EU’s energy situation.
The report stated that although Russian gas consumption has fallen significantly from 150 billion cubic meters (45% of all imports before the Russian-Ukrainian war), the bloc still relies on Russia for 18% of imports over the past eight months (i.e. until August).
The percentage is slightly more than the total imports of LNG from the United States, meaning that Russia remains the second largest supplier to Europe after Norway.
