(Paris) Russia has raked in 158 billion euros in revenue from fossil fuel exports in six months of war, taking advantage of high prices, according to a report by an independent research center published on Tuesday, which calls for sanctions more efficient.
Posted at 7:15 p.m.
“Soaring fossil fuel prices mean that Russia’s current revenues are well above those of previous years despite reductions in export volumes”, underlines the report by the Center for research on energy and clean Air (CREA). , based in Finland.
Gas prices soared to historic levels in Europe, while oil prices soared at the start of the war before falling more recently.
“Fossil fuel exports are estimated to have contributed €43 billion to the Russian federal budget, helping to fund war crimes in Ukraine,” the authors calculated.
These figures were estimated for the first six months of the war following the invasion of Ukraine by Russia, from February 24 to August 24.
Over this period, the CREA estimates that the leading importer of Russian fossil fuels was the European Union (for 85.1 billion euros), followed by China and Turkey.
The EU has decided on a gradual embargo on its imports of petroleum and petroleum products. It has also already put an end to its coal purchases, but Russian gas, on which it is very dependent, is not currently concerned.
The research center, however, believes that the European embargo on coal – implemented on August 10 – has paid off, with Russian exports having since fallen to their lowest level since the invasion of Ukraine. “Russia failed to find other buyers,” write the authors of the report.
The CREA, on the other hand, considers that “stronger” rules must be put in place to prevent Russian oil from entering markets on which it is supposed to be prohibited. Western sanctions are today too easily circumvented, according to him.
“The EU must prohibit the use of European ships and ports for the transport of Russian oil to third countries,” he said. The United Kingdom is also called upon to ban the participation of its insurance sector in such international transport.
For their part, the G7 countries decided on Friday to “urgently” cap the price of Russian oil, a complex mechanism to put in place and intended to deal a new blow to Moscow’s energy windfall.