 In the first 100 days of the war in Ukraine, Russia earned 93 billion euros ($98 billion) from fossil fuel exports, most of which were shipped to the European Union, according to a published study.
The report by the independent Finnish-based Center for Energy and Clean Air Research (CREA) comes at a time when Kyiv is urging the West to suspend all trade with Russia in hopes of severing the Kremlin's financial bailout.
Earlier this month, the EU agreed to suspend imports of Russian oil, on which the continent is heavily dependent. Although the bloc aims to cut gas supplies by two-thirds this year, the embargo is not on the agenda yet.
According to the report, the EU took 61% of fossil fuel exports from Russia in the first 100 days of the war, worth about 57 billion euros ($ 60 billion). The largest importers were China with 12.6 billion euros, Germany (12.1 billion euros) and Italy (7.8 billion euros).
Russia's fossil fuel revenues come primarily from the sale of crude oil (46 billion euros), followed by pipeline gas, petroleum products, liquefied natural gas (LNG) and coal.
Even as Russia's exports plummeted in May as countries and companies shunned supplies due to the Ukrainian invasion, rising global fossil fuel prices continued to fill the Kremlin's coffers, reaching record highs. Russia's average export prices were about 60% higher than last year, according to CREA.
Some countries, including China, India, the United Arab Emirates and France, have increased their purchases from Moscow, the report said.
"While the EU is considering tougher sanctions against Russia, France has increased its imports, becoming the world's largest buyer of liquefied natural gas," said CREA analyst Lauri Myllyvirta. Since most of these purchases are spot purchases, not long-term contracts, the decision by France to decide to use Russian energy after Moscow's invasion of Ukraine is entirely conscious, Myllyvirta added. He called for an embargo on Russian fossil fuels to "align action with words".
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