Financing Putin’s war: Fossil fuel imports from Russia during the invasion of Ukraine
Global reliance on burning fossil fuels perpetuates conflict and energy insecurity as well as air pollution and climate change.
The Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA) is identifying fossil fuel exports from Russia and effective economic and financial countermeasures against Russia to help end the Russian military’s unprovoked and unjustified attack against the sovereign nation of Ukraine, which CREA absolutely condemns as a violation of the fundamental values of human wellbeing, safety, and dignity that CREA seeks to advance.
Read our Statement of Support for Ukraine and see below to find CREA’s data, analyses, and policy recommendations on Russian fossil fuel exports.
March 2025 — Monthly analysis of Russian fossil fuel exports and sanctions
February 2025 — Monthly analysis of Russian fossil fuel exports and sanctions
Data products
Fossil fuel exports are a key enabler of Russia’s military buildup and brutal aggression against Ukraine. The Russian Energy Export Tracker is a project developed by CREA to bring light to details of energy exports from Russia and how they changed after the invasion of Ukraine. We do that by tracking detailed ship movements and pipeline flows in as much detail as possible.
Our aim is to inform politicians, policymakers, media and other stakeholders about the buyers and the sheer amount of money flowing to Russia selling its fossil fuels. By providing more transparency into the topic, we engage all stakeholders to push for actions that would block financial flows supplying the Russian war campaign as soon as possible.
Tracking the dynamics of the sanctions on Russian fossil fuels.
Russia gas flaring
Track gas flaring intensity along Russian gas fields and infrastructure.
Reports
These reports provide regular assessments of Russia’s fossil fuel exports, providing a detailed picture of the importing countries, ports and companies, as well as trends in the volume of exports and imports. Read more on the methodology.
EU imports of Russian fossil fuels in third year of invasion surpass financial aid sent to Ukraine
Tighter sanctions that undercut Russian countermeasures can slash Kremlin revenues by 20% annually CORRIGENDUM, 10 APRIL 2025 – The initial
Tapping the loophole: Czechia has spent five times more on Russian oil and gas than aid to Ukraine
The Russian oil and gas sector is the most important revenue source for the Kremlin, and accounted for 32% (EUR
Ensuring an ecological disaster: ‘Shadow’ tanker spill could cost coastal states USD 1.6 bn
In June 2022, as Russia dug in on its brutal full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the EU responded with a sixth
Sanctions hypocrisy: G7+ imports EUR 1.8 bn of Turkish oil products made from Russian crude
In the first half of 2024, Turkey has risen from being the 14th largest buyer of Russian crude oil before
Policy briefing: Tackling the Russian ‘shadow’ fleet
The shadow fleet transporting Russian fossil fuels poses two significant challenges. In the first instance, the shadow fleet enables Russia
Taiwan’s imports of Russian coal rose 31% in last 12 months
Taiwan relies heavily on coal for power generation. Prior to the Russian full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Taiwan’s energy provider, Taiwan
War profiteering: Eight UK-insured tankers violate price cap, boosting Kremlin revenues by GBP 87 mn
An investigation led by the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA) has found suspected violations of the
A Kremlin pit stop: EU imports EUR 3 bn of oil products from Turkish ports handling Russian oil
A new report from CREA and the Center for the Study of Democracy (CSD) has revealed that since the EU/G7
Leveraging interdependence: An LNG price cap would have cut Russia’s LNG export revenues by 60% in 2023
Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine and the ensuing energy crisis almost immediately underscored the European Union’s energy security vulnerabilities. The
Average EU citizen has paid more than EUR 400 for Russian fossil fuels since invasion
Two years since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, despite a range of sanctions and embargoes, Russian fossil fuels continue to
Refining loophole widens: 44% increase in sanctioning countries imports of oil products from Russian crude in 2023
Sanctions imposed by EU/G7 countries prohibit the importation of Russian crude oil and oil products. The lack of a policy
Evading the sanctions: UK imports EUR 660 mn of oil products made from Russian crude
Sanctions imposed by the UK and EU on Russia prohibit the importation of Russian crude oil and oil products. There
Policy recommendations
CREA encourages all governments and corporate buyers of Russian fossil fuels to
end all purchases, in order to strengthen the effect of the sanctions and help end the war and the crimes against humanity committed by the Russian military.
end transshipments of Russian fossil fuels to third parties.
during any wind-down or transition period, or if a full ban isn’t plausible, institute tariffs on imports from Russia. Sufficiently high tariffs would encourage buyers not to purchase from Russia whenever possible, and curb the price paid to Russian suppliers on spot markets.
create a plan to replace Russian fossil fuels with clean (non-fossil) energy, energy efficiency and energy savings measures as soon as possible. This will be far more impactful than just re-arranging the global trade flows of fossil fuels, and will have far greater economic, health and national security benefits.
Contact us
Do you have a query specific to our work around Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine?
Would you like to use our data to advocate for actions that would reduce fossil fuel imports from Russia, and promote clean energy solutions to replace these imports?
