The European Union paid Russia about €7.2 billion for liquefied natural gas in 2025, despite a promise to completely ban imports of Russian LNG by 2027.
This is reported by The Guardian, citing a report by the human rights NGO Urgewald.
According to Urgewald, more than 15 million tons of LNG from Russia’s Yamal complex in Siberia were shipped to EU terminals last year, generating around €7.2 billion in revenue for Russia.
Although Europe has sharply reduced imports of Russian pipeline gas since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the EUʼs share of global LNG supplies from Yamal has increased. In 2024, it was 75.4%, and in 2025, it was already 76.1%.
Logistics for the Yamal LNG project are provided by two European companies: the British Seapeak and the Greek Dynagas. According to Urgewald, Seapeak transported 37.3% of the gas from Yamal, Dynagas 34.3%.
In 2025, 58 ships delivered 4.2 million tons of Russian LNG to the Belgian terminal in Zeebrugge. For comparison, 51 ships arrived at Chinese ports during the same period, carrying 3.6 million tons of gas.
Imports of Russian LNG remain legal. The European Union is in no hurry to ban it outright, in particular because of the dependence of Central and Eastern European countries on this energy source.
France became the largest importer of Russian LNG in Europe last year. 87 vessels arrived at the ports of Dunkirk and Montoire, which is 6.3 million tons. Franceʼs TotalEnergies remains one of the key investors in the Yamal project.
The UK has announced its intention to ban ships carrying Russian LNG from its maritime services in 2026. This would mean tankers would have to take much longer routes without using EU ports, which could slow down Arctic supplies.
- In May 2022, the EU put forward the REPowerEU proposal to eliminate dependence on Russian gas by 2030 in response to Russiaʼs full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
- Already in December 2025, the EU reported that it had finally agreed on a plan to stop importing Russian gas by 2027. This will apply to both pipeline gas and liquefied natural gas (LNG).
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