“I hope and count on them to step as much as the plate quickly to assist us finish this massacre,” he stated. “If not, penalties ought to and can comply with.”
Previous to the Kremlin’s all-out assault on Ukraine in February 2022, the bloc as a complete imported 45 p.c of its pure fuel and 27 p.c of its crude oil from Russia.
Final yr, that quantity dropped to 19 p.c for fuel and 3 p.c for oil, after the European Fee banned imports by sea. In 2024, nations within the EU forked out €21.9 billion on Russian fossil fuels, accounting for about 10 p.c of Russia’s complete world export revenues.
However whereas most member nations have ended or drastically lowered their dependence for the reason that outbreak of the struggle — in a bid to empty Russian President Vladimir Putin’s struggle chest — Hungary and Slovakia have ramped up theirs, cashing in on Russia’s discounted exports.
Budapest “elevated its Russian crude reliance from 61 p.c pre-invasion to 86 p.c in 2024,” whereas Bratislava “remained virtually one hundred pc depending on provide from Moscow,” in accordance with a report by the Centre for Analysis on Power and Clear Air.
Each nations have sought friendlier relations with the Kremlin and to this point refused calls to search out various power sources.
Hungary imposed sanctions final month on the Ukrainian army officer who was behind an assault on the Druzhba pipeline in Russia, which provides over half of Budapest’s oil imports.
