According to Eurostat, last year, the EU countries imported oil, petroleum products, and gas from the Russian Federation for a total amount of €29.1 billion. On the one hand, European leaders support sanctions against Russia, and on the other, they buy raw materials from it.
Thus, in 2023, the total volume of oil purchases decreased by 5.9 times to €9.3 billion. As a result, during the reporting period, the volume of imports fell by 11% to 21.3 million tons.
Bulgaria (5.5 million tons), Hungary (4.7 million tons), the Czech Republic (4.3 million tons), Slovakia (4.6 million tons), Poland (1.15 million tons), the Netherlands (831,000 tons), and Austria (9,300 tons) continued to buy oil from Russia. At the same time, imports of petroleum products in physical terms decreased by 9.6 times (to 4.2 million tons) and amounted to €3.1 billion. The main buyers of Russian commodities are Greece (841,000 tons), Germany (771,000 tons), and Belgium (702,000 tons).
Meanwhile, gas supplies from Russia to the European Union decreased by 25% to 22.4 million tons. In monetary terms, this figure decreased 2.9 times to reach €16.7 billion. The largest purchases of natural gas were made by Hungary (4.7 million tons), Greece (3 million tons), and Belgium (2.8 million tons).
By the end of 2023, the total trade turnover between Russia and the EU countries decreased by 2.9 times, to €88.9 billion, imports dropped by four times (to €50.6 billion), and exports declined by one-third (to €38.3 billion).
