Ukraine. Russia has made huge revenues from fossil fuels.

Russia has earned 158 billion euros in fossil fuel exports during the six-month war in Ukraine, taking advantage of higher prices, a report said on Tuesday. The document calls for more effective sanctions.

“While export volumes have been reduced due to rising fossil fuel prices, Russia’s current revenues are higher than in previous years,” the Finland-based Center for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA) said in a report.

Gas prices rose to historic levels in Europe, while oil prices rose at the start of the war before falling more recently. “Fossil fuel exports contribute an estimated 43 billion euros to the Russian federal budget, helping to finance war crimes in Ukraine,” the authors calculated.

These data were estimated for the first six months of the war, following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine from February 24 to August 24. During this period, CREA estimates that the EU was the leading importer of Russian fossil fuels (€85.1 billion), followed by China and Turkey.

Clearance of Petroleum and Coal

The European Union has decided to phase out the import of petroleum and petroleum products. It has already ended its coal purchases, but Russian gas, on which it is heavily dependent, is not currently a concern.

However, the research center believes that the European ban on coal, which took effect on August 10, has paid off, with Russian exports falling to their lowest level since the invasion of Ukraine. “Russia has failed to find other buyers,” the report’s authors write.

CREA, on the other hand, considers that “stronger” rules should be put in place to prevent Russian oil from entering restricted markets. He opined that Western sanctions are being circumvented more easily today.

He also believes that “the EU should ban the use of European ships and ports to transport Russian oil to third countries.” The United Kingdom is requested to prohibit the participation of its insurance sector in such international transport.

For their part, the G7 countries decided on Friday to “urgently” control the price of Russian oil, creating a complex mechanism and intended to deal a new blow to Moscow’s energy windfall.

TTY