Russia earned 93 billion euros ($98 billion) from fossil fuel exports during the first 100 days of its war in Ukraine, with most sent to the European Union, according to research published Monday.
The report from the independent, Finland-based Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA) comes as Kyiv urges the West to sever all trade with Russia in the hopes of cutting off the Kremlin’s financial lifeline.
Earlier this month, the EU agreed to halt most Russian oil imports, on which the continent is heavily dependent. Though the bloc aims to reduce gas shipments by two-thirds this year, an embargo is not in the cards at present.
Before the war started in Ukraine, Russia accounted for 40 percent of the European Union’s gas and 27 percent of its imported oil. However, since the crisis started, the EU have taken steps to reduce their import, but no complete ban has been placed yet despite multiple requests from Ukraine.
The report claims that EU accounted for 61 per cent of the total exports during the first 100 days of the war. The other importers were China, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Turkey and Poland.
The report also said that Russia’s income came from crude oil ($48.2bn), followed by pipeline gas ($25.1bn), oil products ($13.6bn), liquefied natural gas, or LNG, ($5.3bn) and coal ($4.8bn).
The report by the independent Finnish-based Center for Energy and Clean Air Research (CREA) comes at a time when Kyiv is urging the West to suspend all trade with Russia in hopes of severing the Kremlin’s financial bailout.
Earlier this month, the EU agreed to suspend imports of Russian oil, on which the continent is heavily dependent. Although the bloc aims to cut gas supplies by two-thirds this year, the embargo is not on the agenda yet.
According to the report, the EU took 61% of fossil fuel exports from Russia in the first 100 days of the war, worth about 57 billion euros ($ 60 billion). The largest importers were China with 12.6 billion euros, Germany (12.1 billion euros) and Italy (7.8 billion euros).
Russia’s fossil fuel revenues come primarily from the sale of crude oil (46 billion euros), followed by pipeline gas, petroleum products, liquefied natural gas (LNG) and coal.
Even as Russia’s exports plummeted in May as countries and companies shunned supplies due to the Ukrainian invasion, rising global fossil fuel prices continued to fill the Kremlin’s coffers, reaching record highs. Russia’s average export prices were about 60% higher than last year, according to CREA.
Some countries, including China, India, the United Arab Emirates, and France, have increased their purchases from Moscow, the report said.
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