As EU leaders meet to decide on a fifth package of sanctions against Moscow, member states are under intense pressure to ditch Russian fossil fuels once and for all.
Brussels is proposing a ban on coal exports but it has stopped short of a full embargo on Russian energy. Moscow is still receiving roughly $750m in gas revenues a day from the bloc. The continent’s continued purchasing of Russian energy is keeping the country’s economy afloat, and softening the blow of sanctions.
As Josep Borrell, the EU’s foreign policy chief, pointed out today, the EU has provided Ukraine with €1bn of military assistance since the start of the war – but this pales in comparison to the €35bn the bloc has spent on Russian energy over the same period.
