Belgium imported a record amount of Russian liquefied natural gas (LNG) last month, with imports rising 11% from February to March, Belga News Agency reports.
The record monthly imports follow Belgium's record annual importation of 4.3 million cubic metres of Russian LNG last year — a 70% increase compared to 2021.
The increased imports come in spite of EU leaders' repeated calls for the bloc to become independent of Russian energy supplies, following Russian President Vladimir Putin's decision to launch a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February last year.
"We must become independent from Russian oil, coal and gas," EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in March 2022. "We simply cannot rely on a supplier who explicitly threatens us."
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Russia's invasion subsequently triggered a raft of EU sanctions on Russian industry and energy supplies, which led Moscow to retaliate by restricting its energy exports to Europe. EU imports of Russian oil and pipeline gas have subsequently declined dramatically over the past year.
Belgium's increasing imports of Russian LNG, however, do not merely contravene EU leaders' previous calls for the bloc to achieve energy independence from Russia, but has led to experts questioning the economics, given that LNG imports are typically significantly far more expensive than gas delivered via pipeline.
Russia is not the only country from which the EU is importing growing amounts of LNG. LNG imports from Qatar and, especially, the US have also significantly increased since Russia's invasion.
