How EU payments for Russian gas have soared since the invasion of Ukraine

The value of daily EU imports of Russian gas has surged from around €200m at the start of the year to more than €800m at the start of March.

By Nick Ferris

Photo by Andrey Rudakov/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Russia’s relentless assault of Ukraine is now in its third week. The West has responded with a barrage of economic sanctions aimed at the country’s financial system.

While the US has said that it will end imports of Russian oil and gas — an industry that contributes around 40 per cent of Russia’s federal budget — the UK has promised only to phase out Russian oil by the end of this year, and the EU has said it will only end imports from Russia by 2030.