France, Belgium and Spain spent more money on Russian liquefied natural gas (LNG) than in financial support for Ukraine, according to a new report by Greenpeace published on Tuesday (30 September).
Those three member states, which are the EU countries importing the most Russian LNG, together spent €34.3bn between 2022 and June 2025 — while their combined support for Ukraine was €21.2bn.
Greenpeace found that in the first half of 2025, the EU as a whole imported 12.8 billion cubic metres of Russian LNG — an increase of 67 percent compared to the first half of 2021, before Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Before the February 2022 invasion, Russian gas (including both pipeline and LNG) accounted for 45 percent of Europe’s energy demands.
Following the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Europe has been trying to reduce its dependence on Russian energy.
The EU Commission has recently put forward a proposal for member states to stop importing all Russian fossil fuels by 2027. And while most EU member states backed the plan, Slovakia and Hungary opposed the move.
Russian energy has been subjected to economic sanctions imposed by the EU, the US, and other allies. Pipeline gas and LNG have been targeted through bans on transhipment, restrictions on investments, and the planned phase-out of imports under new contracts.
In the latest 19th sanction package against Russia, which is yet to be approved by member states, the commission proposes to stop the import of Russian LNG by the end of 2026 – reportedly one year ahead of the initial plans, in response to transatlantic pressure from Donald Trump.
Most of the LNG that comes to Europe is exported by the Russian company Yamal LNG. According to the report, the company is estimated to have increased revenue by €34bn between 2022 and 2024 and paid an estimated €8bn in tax to the Russian state.
Greenpeace estimates that Russia could have bought 270,000 Shahed attack drones with that sum.
In March 2025, an estimated 1,000 of those drones were used to attack Ukraine each week.
As national capitals try to move away from Russian LNG, the EU plans to import more LNG from the US.
In 2021, 28 percent of the EU’s LNG imports came from the US.
By 2024, that share had risen to 45 percent. Greenpeace warned that the EU is on the verge of stumbling from one dependency (Russia) to another (US).
"Europe would be foolish to swap this dependence [from Russia] for one on American gas," said Thomas Gelin, a climate campaigner for Greenpeace EU.
"Fracked gas from the US does outrageous damage to the climate and local communities' health, and Trump won't hesitate to use gas imports as a lever to bully the EU if European households are vulnerable to this volatile market."
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Hannah Kriwak is a junior reporter from Austria at EUobserver, covering European politics.
Hannah Kriwak is a junior reporter from Austria at EUobserver, covering European politics.