Despite French President Emmanuel Macron’s loud statements about the need to support Ukraine, Paris has paid more than 600 million euros for the supply of liquefied natural gas (LNG) to Russia this year. The publication writes about this Policy With reference to data analyzed by the CREA research centre.
“France cannot pay them a lot of money while on the one hand saying we have to be tough on Russia,” said a diplomat from an EU country who wished to remain anonymous.
According to CREA data, Russian LNG supplies to France in the first three months of this year increased more than any other EU country compared to last year. At the same time, Macron takes one of the most difficult positions on support for Ukraine, not excluding the sending of French troops.
A spokesman for the French Ministry of Energy admitted that the problem was “not simple”.
“It makes no sense if we continue to pay for gas that we do not import,” he said, referring to long-term contracts signed by French energy company TotalEnergies with Russia.
French officials argue that gas purchases from Russia are necessary to ensure gas supplies to Europe and that it is legally difficult to terminate these contracts. But critics say Paris could do more to reduce purchases of Russian fuel.
“It’s a shame for them,” said Phuc-Vinh Nguyen, an energy analyst at the Jacques Delors Institute in Paris.
In his view, France’s reluctance to be more active on this issue “contradicts” Macron’s calls for support for Ukraine.
The day before it became known that Russian oil was being sold again traded The G7 is well above the price ceiling.
Russians before said When will the dominance of the dollar end?
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Source: Gazeta
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