September 15, 2025

Hold on to your hats! President Donald Trump fired a bold statement on Saturday, saying the United States is ready to bring new energy sanctions down on Russia — but there's a big catch. All NATO countries must stop buying Russian oil first and do similar actions. Isn't that a spicy condition? Why all the fuss? More than three years after Russia invaded Ukraine, both the US and Europe still buy tons of Russian goods. These range from liquefied natural gas and oil to fertilizers and even enriched uranium! So, despite bans and cutbacks, the river of Russian energy hasn’t fully dried up. Let's zoom in on European Union (EU) trade with Russia. Thanks to several import and export restrictions, EU exports to Russia dropped by 61%, and imports from Russia fell a whopping 89% between early 2022 and mid-2025. Amazing, right? But here’s the twist: the EU still buys oil, nickel, natural gas, fertilizers, iron, and steel from Russia. Think back to four years ago. Russia was the EU’s biggest supplier of petroleum products, making up nearly 29% of imports. Today, after banning maritime imports of Russian crude, that number has shrunken to just about 2%! Natural gas from Russia also sharply declined, with their share falling from 48% to 12%. Meanwhile, Algeria and Norway have become top gas suppliers to the EU. What about fancy liquefied natural gas (LNG)? Its value shot up in 2022 due to price jumps, but Russia’s share in EU LNG imports fell from 22% four years ago to just 14% recently. Guess who’s the new big player? The United States, owning a massive 54% of EU LNG imports! In iron and steel, Russia’s share in EU imports plunged from 18% to a mere 6%. However, fertilizers tell a different story. Russia remains the king supplier, growing from 28% to 34% of the EU market by mid-2025. The European Parliament plans to slap heavy tariffs on these fertilizers, but the effects are still unknown. Switching gears to the US, imports from Russia have dropped fast—from $14.14 billion four years ago down to $2.50 billion in the first half of 2025. Yet, the US still bought around $1.27 billion worth of Russian fertilizers in 2024. As for high-tech goodies like enriched uranium and plutonium, the US imported $624 million worth in 2024, slightly less than before. Oh, and the shiny metal palladium? Russian exports to the US dropped from $1.59 billion in 2021 to about $878 million in 2024. So, here’s the big question: Can NATO countries unite and turn off the Russian oil tap? Trump seems to think that’s the key to unlocking tougher US sanctions. Until then, the world keeps trading with Russia, sometimes reluctantly, sometimes out of necessity. How will this energy drama play out? Stay tuned!

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Tags: Russia, Energy sanctions, Eu imports, Us imports, Natural gas, Fertilizers,