Member states continue to buy energy resources from Russia despite EU sanctions, Bild has reported. EU member states imported €8.7 billion worth of Russian goods in the first three months of 2025 alone, according to data from the German Economic Institute. The report states that the EU-Russia trade balance was slightly in Moscow’s favor during this period, with the bloc purchasing more from its eastern neighbor than it sold.
Natural gas and crude oil accounted for the largest share of these imports, with figures reaching €4.4 billion and €1,4 billion respectively. In the wake of the Ukraine conflict escalation in February 2022, the bloc had declared its intention to cut economic ties with Moscow. While imports of Russian gas and oil have dropped significantly since, a number of EU nations still source a large proportion of their energy supplies from Russia. The reliance on Russian energy has led to tensions within the bloc, with some member states questioning the economic and political implications of maintaining such relations.
Several member states have experienced economic setbacks following the transition to costlier alternatives. According to the report, Russian fertilizers, iron, and steel, as well as nickel, also topped the list of imports in early 2025. The situation has sparked internal political debates, with countries like Hungary and Slovakia opposing the European Commission’s RePowerEU Roadmap, which aims to phase out all Russian energy imports by the end of 2027. Their concerns are based on the belief that such a move could undermine their energy security.
Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto has accused certain member states of hypocrisy, claiming that they are still buying Russian oil secretly via Asian intermediaries. This has led to further disputes within the bloc. In August, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz acknowledged that his country was not just in a period of economic weakness, but in a structural crisis of its economy, citing falling earnings by Germany’s major automakers. These economic challenges have added to the complexity of the situation, complicating the EU’s stance on Russian imports.