MOSCOW September 02. 2024 (Saba) -The Russian Foreign Ministry confirmed that gas imports to the European Union countries continue to grow, and their share of the total imports of the Union reaches 15%.
"At the same time, despite the EU plan adopted in May 2022 to reduce hydrocarbon imports from Russia, European trade statistics show that Russian gas imports to EU countries are trending upward," the ministry's director of economic cooperation, Dmitry Perichevsky, told Sputnik today.
"Thus, in the first half of this year, in the first half of this year the EU imported more natural gas from Russia than in the period from January to June 2023. Overall, at present, Russian gas accounts for 15 percent of the Union's total imports."
According to the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA, USA), in the first quarter of this year, French economic operators increased their purchases from two to 4.4 billion cubic meters, experts point out that a large part of LNG is intended for re-export.
"Russia is at the forefront of the trend towards getting rid of the dollar, according to the Central Bank, in May this year, the share of the ruble and the currencies of friendly countries in our export transactions exceeded 82 percent, and 76 percent in imports.
The share of "toxic" currencies (primarily the dollar and the euro), which in 2021 was almost 85 percent on exports, fell to less than 20 percent, and in import accounts to less than 30 percent.
He added: "Thus, today we no longer rely on the US currency, financial transactions with our main partners have been converted into national currencies.
Their share in settlements within the Eurasian Economic Union is about 90 percent, and in bilateral settlements with China - more than 90 percent ."
The EU put together plan in March 2022, which outlines measures to phase out fuel imports from Russia, improve energy supply security and support the green transition, and propose further measures to reduce gas and electricity demand.
Russia has said more than once that the West has made a grave mistake by refusing to buy fuel from Russia, and will fall into a new, stronger dependency due to rising prices.
Moscow stated that those who refused will continue to buy more expensive products through intermediaries and will continue to buy Russian oil and gas.
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