Europe is complicit in Russia’s war crimes by purchasing its oil and gas, according to a top Ukrainian official.
Ukraine is “extremely disappointed” with the European Union’s most recent sanctions package proposal, which would cut off Russia’s coal exports but does not address its other energy production, Oleg Ustenko, an economic adviser to the Ukrainian president, told Newsweek on Thursday.
“For us, it’s completely unacceptable, impossible that Europe, which on one hand is helping us, is on the other hand sending this bloody money to Putin,” he said.
EU HAS SENT MORE MONEY TO RUSSIA THAN UKRAINE SINCE START OF WAR
Before the war began, Russia was exporting roughly $700 million worth of oil every day, but as the war in Ukraine and rising inflation drive up oil prices, that figure is now closer to $1 billion each day, Ustenko claimed.
”You can imagine how many missiles and how many weapons they can buy out of these receipts,” he said.
Earlier this week, the EU acknowledged its own shortcomings when it came to sending money and arms to Ukraine while continuing to prop up Russian President Vladimir Putin by buying oil and gas.
On Thursday, the EU is set to approve the new sanctions on Russian coal, the first time the bloc has agreed to cancel purchases of any kind of Russian energy. However, Germany played a role in not only delaying the countries from discussing sanctions but also pushing back the implementation of the ban until August.
“We were expecting that this ban was going to be introduced many days ago,” Ustenko said.
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Germany imported more coal than any other European country besides the Netherlands in 2020.
The EU’s ban will cost Russia nearly $4.4 billion a year. Russian oil and gas exports account for roughly 36% of the country’s budget.
