DISINFO: Europe has no choice but to import Russian oil
SUMMARY
Europeans are in a difficult situation and facing a serious energy crisis, as they have no sources of imports other than the Middle East, specifically Qatar, which failed to fulfill its energy contracts with the EU due to the closure of the Strait of Hormuz. That’s why European countries have no choice but to import Russian oil.
RESPONSE
This disinformation story is an attempt to exploit the economic consequences of the Iran war in order to advance a recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about Europe’s supposed inescapable dependence on Russia’s energy. The goal is to persuade audiences of the impracticality of rejecting Russia’s hydrocarbons and the convenience of lifting sanctions and returning to Russian energy supplies.
This story appeared in the context of Washington issuing a 30‑day waiver allowing countries to buy Russian oil and petroleum products that were already stranded at sea, i.e. cargoes loaded on tankers by a specific date, after the Iran war sent oil prices soaring. This is a narrow, temporary relaxation on a subset of shipments, not a general lifting of sanctions on Russian exports, companies or banks.
While the shock on energy markets is having an impact in Europe, the claim that Europe has no other choice than purchasing Russian oil is baseless. The EU covers almost half of its energy needs through domestic sources, and it has an increasingly diversified network of suppliers for the rest. Most of the EU’s energy imports are unaffected by the Iran war, as data shows that the US accounted for about 16% of the EU's petroleum oil imports, followed by Norway with 13.5% and Kazakhstan with 11.5%. Renewables play a significant role in this trend towards self-sufficiency: in 2025, wind and solar energy generated more EU electricity than fossil fuels for the first time, covering for almost 50% of all the electricity used in the block.
This disinformation narrative conveniently ignores the fact that the EU’s diversification of energy sources allows it to prevent recurring energy blackmail from Russia. European officials emphasise that 'solving' this crisis by going back to Russian fossil fuels would recreate the same geopolitical dependence and directly fund Russia’s war.
See other examples of similar disinformation narratives, such as claims that Europe is back to the Stone Age as it lost €1 trillion for rejecting Russia’s gas, that Europe is committing energy suicide without Russia, that instead of crushing Russia, sanctions led to US debt and Europe’s freezing, that according to the Draghi report, EU faces economic difficulties due to rejection of Russian energy, or that a potential ban on Russian LNG supplies would cost the EU one-fifth of imports.