The European Commission disputes Moscow’s data on the money paid by the EU for Russian energy

The European Commission on Tuesday disputed Moscow’s claim that EU member states had paid €302 billion for Russian energy since 2022. Brussels says the amount was €197 billion between March 2022 and July 2026, according to official COMEXT data administered by Eurostat.

The dispute erupted after Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak cited a figure of $320.7 billion to argue that the European Union remains dependent on Moscow, despite sanctions and efforts to diversify supply sources.

The European Commission says the REPowerEU program has significantly reduced this dependence. According to spokesperson Anna-Kaisa Itkonen, without the program launched after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the EU would have spent €278 billion more on Russian fossil fuels, bringing the total to €475 billion.

European data shows that by 2023, Russia accounted for only 6% of the EU’s spending on fossil fuels. The share of Russian energy imports fell from 42–45% in 2022 to approximately 12% at present. The Commission’s figures also contradict U.S. President Donald Trump’s estimate that the EU had paid Russia $250 billion.