Despite Germany’s ban on direct Russian LNG shipments, it is still receiving significant amounts of Russian liquefied natural gas (LNG) through other EU countries, according to a report by Belgian, German and Ukrainian NGOs. In 2024, Germany’s national energy company Sefe purchased 58 cargoes of Russian LNG via France’s Dunkirk port, a sharp increase from the previous year.
While the EU has set a target to eliminate Russian fossil fuels by 2027, seaborne Russian gas imports, which are not banned, have reached record highs. As of 2024, only about 10% of the EU’s piped gas came from Russia, with coal and almost all Russian oil being sanctioned. German energy authorities have stated that no Russian LNG directly enters the country, but imports through countries like Belgium and France are often re-exported to Germany.
The lack of transparency in the EU’s gas market makes tracking the origin of LNG shipments difficult, with some gas officially labeled as “Belgian” or “French” despite being Russian in origin. This has led to what critics call a “whitewashing” of Russian gas, as countries can avoid taking responsibility for it.
Sefe, which was nationalized in 2022, did not confirm or deny the report’s findings, citing the challenges of tracking gas once it enters the European network. EU energy ministers have called for greater transparency to better monitor LNG imports, though tracking gas within the internal market remains complex.
