Belgium pays more for Russian gas than for Ukraine aid, Greenpeace report finds
Belgium, France and Spain have spent more on Russian liquefied natural gas (LNG) than on aid to Ukraine since the war began, Greenpeace Belgium said in a report published on Tuesday.
With the Netherlands, these four countries - accounting for 95 per cent of EU LNG imports - paid 34.3 billion euros for Russian LNG between 2022 and mid-2025, compared with 21.2 billion euros in bilateral support for Kyiv.
France is the biggest buyer of LNG at 12.75 billion euros, followed by Spain (9.5 bn) and Belgium (6.21 bn). Belgium provided 3.2 billion euros in aid to Kyiv, Spain 1.47 billion and France 7.56 billion. In contrast, the Netherlands individually spent more on aid to Ukraine (8.99 bn) than on Russian LNG (5.84 bn).
Largest entry point
According to the report, Zeebrugge has become the single largest entry point for Russian LNG in the EU, handling around a quarter of all volumes. Imports through the terminal reached 3.3 billion cubic metres in the first half of this year, putting it on track to beat previous records despite an EU ban on re-exports.
Greenpeace also warned that revenues from the Yamal LNG project brought the Russian state almost 9.5 billion euros in taxes from 2022 to 2024. This money, Greenpeace says, could finance hundreds of thousands of attack drones, millions of artillery shells or thousands of tanks.
US contracts
At the same time, EU dependence on US gas has soared. Europe’s urgent push to replace Russian supplies has driven a wave of long-term US LNG contracts. The turning point came in 2022, when US-to-Europe flows surged and European buyers signed multi-year deals at record speed.
Greenpeace warned that this risks simply replacing one dependency with another and called instead for a rapid transition to renewable energy.
The European Commission has proposed ending Russian fossil fuel imports by 2027. A new sanctions package aims to ban Russian imports already by 2026.
A LNG gas transporting ship at the liquid gas terminal of Fluxys in Zeebrugge harbour © BELGA PHOTO NICOLAS MAETERLINCK
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