Four EU States Paid Russia More for Gas Than They Gave Ukraine – Greenpeace

Greenpeace has released data showing that France, Belgium, Spain, and the Netherlands paid Russia more for liquefied natural gas between 2022 and 2025 than they allocated in financial aid to Ukraine during the same period.

The Gaze reports this, referring to Deutsche Welle, citing Greenpeace's research “The LNG Trap: Europe’s Fossil Gas Dependence on Russia and the United States.” 

According to the Greenpeace study, four EU countries — France, Belgium, Spain, and the Netherlands — spent €34.3 billion on Russian liquefied natural gas (LNG) between 2022 and 2025.

This is more than their combined aid to Ukraine for the same period, which amounted to €21.2 billion.

The main supplier of LNG is Yamal LNG, whose revenue from European contracts in 2022–2024 amounted to about $40 billion, bringing the Russian budget approximately $9.5 billion in tax revenues.

Greenpeace has calculated that these funds would be sufficient to finance 9.5 million 152 mm artillery shells, or 271,000 Shahed drones, or 2,686 T-90M battle tanks for the Russian army.

Despite the EU's efforts to reduce its dependence on Russian energy, LNG imports have grown due to restrictions on pipeline supplies. Trade is supported by long-term contracts with major European energy companies, including TotalEnergies, Shell, Naturgy, and SEFE. This allows Russia to continue to receive billions in revenue from the European market.

In response to this situation, the EU included a ban on Russian LNG imports in the 19th package of sanctions adopted in September 2025. The new rules provide for a complete cessation of purchases from January 2027, as well as a ban on transactions with Rosneft and Gazprom Neft.

Greenpeace warns that the EU's rejection of Russian gas creates a new dependency — this time on the US. In the first half of 2025 alone, Europe imported 52.7 billion cubic meters of LNG from the US, much of which is extracted using fracking, which is harmful to the environment and human health.

“Reliance on Russian LNG directly fills Putin’s war chest, enabling the war he is waging against Ukraine and threatening the peace and security of Europe. However, substituting Russian gas for US gas exposes Europe to the political agenda of Trump, who has become an increasingly unreliable partner,” the statement goes.

Read more on The Gaze: Russian Energy Weapon: Lessons from Gas Crises for Europe