"At the same time, despite the EU plan adopted in May 2022 to reduce hydrocarbon imports from Russia, European trade statistics show that Russian gas imports to EU countries are trending upward. Thus, in the first half of this year, the EU imported more natural gas from Russia than in January-June 2023. In general, at the moment, Russian gas in the union's total imports reaches 15%," he said.
In the first quarter of this year, France more than doubled its purchases of Russian liquefied natural gas (LNG) to 4.4 billion cubic meters, a significant portion of which is being re-exported, Birichevsky added.
In March 2022, the EU developed the RePowerEU plan, which sets out measures to gradually reduce fuel imports from Russia, increase the reliability of energy supply and support the green transition, proposing further measures to reduce demand for gas and electricity.