Enlarge image
Transport station for Russian natural gas in Brandenburg
Photo: Patrick Pleul / dpa
Shortly before the EU summit on a possible oil embargo against Russia, Moscow quantified its additional income from the internationally high energy prices for the first time Finance Minister Anton Siluanov.
"We expect up to a trillion rubles more in oil and gas revenues," Siluanov said on state television on Friday.
The government wants to spend the additional income this year rather than put it aside.
The money should be spent on "additional payments" for pensioners and families with children and for the "special operation" in Ukraine, the finance minister said, referring to Russia's military offensive in the neighboring country, which cannot be described as a war in the country.
The West has imposed a series of sanctions on Moscow over the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Russia's oil and gas supplies have so far been exempt from this;
Because of the very high energy prices worldwide as a result of the war, Moscow is currently raking in record revenues.
The EU summit wants to discuss tougher sanctions against Moscow over the war of aggression in Ukraine on Monday.
In addition, new financial aid for Ukraine should be discussed in Brussels.
The member states of the EU want to become less dependent on fossil fuels from Russia.
However, it is unclear whether they can agree on an oil embargo.
Hungary in particular has so far blocked such a step, which would have to be decided unanimously.
Russia's President Vladimir Putin recently made fun of the sanctions and said that the European countries were only harming themselves with their "chaotic actions". The traffic light coalition has set itself the goal of reducing dependence on Russian energy imports.
Meanwhile, the president of the industry association BDI, Siegfried Russwurm, warned against a complete cessation of energy imports from Russia.
"It's part of being honest that we still couldn't cope with a stop in Russian gas supplies today - the economy and the federal government agree on that," he told the newspapers of the editorial network Germany (RND).
mic/AFP