In his speech to the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday, President Trump railed against the European Union for keeping the Russian war effort against Ukraine alive by purchasing Russia’s oil and natural gas.
“They have to immediately cease all energy purchases from Russia,” Mr. Trump said. “Otherwise we are all wasting a lot of time.”
Although the European Union has sharply reduced its overall energy dependency on Russia, it continues to import some supplies and appears reluctant to completely sever the flows.
Russia rivals Qatar as one of the largest exporters of liquefied natural gas to the European Union after the United States. L.N.G. is chilled, liquid fuel shipped by tanker. The European Union is now proposing to phase out these shipments by 2027.
Russia also continues to export a modest amount of pipeline gas to the 27-member trade bloc, accounting for about 8 percent of imports in the second quarter of 2025, according to Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union.
In another sticking point, both Slovakia and Hungary have been receiving around 100,000 barrels a day of Russian crude oil by the Druzhba pipeline, according to Kpler, a research firm.
These volumes are modest in a world market of more than 100 million barrels a day, but important to Hungary and Slovakia. They have strong incentives to remain customers of Moscow, because their refineries are geared to process Russian crude, making switching costly, Kpler said.
In addition, buying imports by sea would be more expensive than Russian crude, which analysts say is sold at a discount. The most likely import route through Croatia also lacks sufficient capacity.
Stanley Reed reports on energy, the environment and the Middle East for The Times from London. He has been a journalist for more than four decades.
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