Did the head of the European Commission say that the EU is forced to buy Russian oil so that Putin does not earn more from it elsewhere?

At the beginning of November 2024, Telegram channels disseminated a paradoxical statement that Ursula von der Leyen allegedly recently made. We have verified the accuracy of such publications.

On November 7 and 8, the phrase “The European Union is forced to buy Russian oil so that Putin does not earn more money somewhere else,” which was allegedly said by the head of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen, circulated throughout the Russian-language segment of Telegram. The quote was shared, in particular, by channels Colonelcassad (2 million views at the time of writing this analysis), “The world today with "Yuri Podolyak"" (1.5 million), "The world of Mikhail Onufrienko"(223,000), "Observer"(205,000), "Uncle Slava"(191,000), "Russia now"(187,000), "Ivan Utenkov | Kursk" (141,000) and "Falcon"(119,000). Her also discussed V Facebook And X.

Before the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, oil from the Russian Federation accounted for about a third of European imports of this energy resource - according to data European Bureau of Statistics (Eurostat), in the fourth quarter of 2021 the share reached 28%. From the end of February 2022, Brussels will gradually increases sanctions pressure on Moscow, introducing restrictions against individuals and legal entities, departments and companies, and subsequently individual sectors of the economy. Already in March, some Eastern European leaders called for their colleagues at the EU level to refuse to purchase energy resources from the Russian Federation and thereby stop indirectly financing the Russian military machine.

A phrase attributed to von der Leyen about the reason why the EU continues to import Russian oil, distributed on social networks back in May 2022. The recent wave of similar posts began with a publication in the Telegram channel Antiseptic (1600 views), posted on November 6 at 20:24 Moscow time, without indicating that the alleged quote is more than two years old. To this publication, the author attached a video in which the head of the European Commission was captured during an interview, while the MSNBC logo was visible on the plate at the bottom of the screen. 

American TV channel broadcast This conversation was recorded on May 23, 2022, on the sidelines of the Global Citizen NOW summit in New York. Answering a question from journalist Mika Brezinski about whether the ongoing multi-billion-dollar import of Russian energy resources is reducing the effectiveness of sanctions imposed because of the war, von der Leyen explains that Europe was heavily dependent on oil and gas from the Russian Federation and that it will take time to change the situation. Next, the politician mentions the already adopted packages of sanctions against the Russian Federation, which are complemented by the initiative to develop green energy in exchange for Russian resources. Next, the interviewer asks whether there is a chance to introduce a total embargo, to which the head of the European Commission states (this moment was included in an excerpt published by several Telegram channels): “We need to be careful. If we completely cut off [Russian] oil right now, from this very moment, perhaps he (Putin - editor's note) will be able to send the oil that he does not sell to the European Union to the world market, where prices will rise, and sell it at a higher price. This will supplement his military budget. We must approach this issue strategically. This is why it is so important to unite the rest of the world to completely deprive it of its military budget. A complete embargo will indeed take years. But over time, we will get rid of dependence on Russian fossil energy resources of all three types and will never return to it again.”

From the video excerpt, which was distributed by individual Telegram channels, not only von der Leyen’s question and the beginning of her answer were removed, but also her words that the EU has already adopted the fifth package of sanctions against Russia and is preparing to adopt the sixth (by the fall of 2024 was accepted already 14). In the fifth package, agreed in April 2022, entered ban on the purchase and transit of Russian coal, approval of the sixth in early June provided similar measures against crude oil (excluding pipeline oil) and certain petroleum products from December 5, 2022 and February 5, 2023, respectively. Previously, some EU countries refused to purchase these energy resources on their own initiative (for example, Lithuania), and others (for example, Poland And Germany) announced such plans.

By estimates von der Leyen, the sixth package of sanctions was supposed to reduce Russian oil supplies to the EU by 90%. By the end of 2023, according to data Eurostat, the Russian Federation's share in oil imports to the European Union fell from pre-war 28% to 3%. It was replaced by resources from other countries - during 2022, Brussels worked to diversify the ways of providing the EU with energy resources. Yes, von der Leyen signed memorandum on energy cooperation with Azerbaijan and trilateral agreement with Egypt and Israel. Also were increased supplies from the USA, Norway and other countries. In December 2022, the European Union joined to the G7 initiative to introduce price ceiling for Russian oil and petroleum products. It was assumed that this decision would help avoid the situation that von der Leyen had spoken about six months earlier in an interview with MSNBC. However, how repeatedly wrote the media, Russia at least bypasses these restrictions.

Thus, although the meaning of the viral quote corresponds to von der Leyen’s statement, the head of the European Commission uttered these words about two and a half years ago. Since then, the European Union has banned the purchase of many Russian energy resources and, according to official data, reduced the share of oil from the Russian Federation in its imports to almost zero.

Cover photo: EC – Audiovisual Service

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