The EU says its sanctions are meant to cut Moscow revenues and access to technology used in war. But the impact"will not be severe enough to limit Russia's ability to wage war against Ukraine in 2023," a European Parliament research note said.
Since the invasion in 2022, the value of EU imports from Russia fell by a half to around 10 billion euros last December. Liquefied natural gas is another story. Russian LNG deliveries to Europe increased since the war - to 22 billion cubic metres in 2022, up from around 16 bcm in 2021, according to EU analysis.
The French energy ministry disputed parts of a report by Greenpeace, which last month said Paris had sharply increased imports of enriched uranium from Russia since the invasion. Paris said its contracts with Russia would be more expensive to halt than continue.The EU bought 1.4 billion euros worth of Russian diamonds last year, according to Eurostat, as it banned neither the gem imports nor blacklisted Russian state-controlled miner Alrosa.
Potash from Russia and ally Belarus is heavily restricted or banned in the EU. But other fertilisers including urea flow freely, said Sean Mackle of industry lobby Fertilizers Europe, adding that the patchy approach weighed on implementation.