America News Agency

According to calculations based on Eurostat data for the first eight months of this year, imports by these three countries account for more than half of all imports from Russia.

From January to August, Russia supplied €9 billion worth of gas to the EU, with pipeline gas once again becoming Russia's main export item.

Russia and Algeria were the countries that increased their share in gas supplies to the EU the most.

France became the main buyer of fuel, increasing its imports by 30% to €1.9 billion. Hungary reduced its purchases by almost a third to €1.6 billion, ranking second.

Spain climbed to third place with imports worth €1.4 billion. Other major buyers include Italy (€1.3 billion), Greece (€919 million), Slovakia (€800 million), and Belgium (€709 million).

At the same time, Lithuania (41%) and Finland (36%) were the countries that increased imports the most. However, their import volumes remained very small, at $1.8 million and $44.3 million, respectively.

Moscow has repeatedly emphasized that the West is making a grave mistake by rejecting Russian hydrocarbons and falling into a new dependency: now, these countries are forced to buy Russian oil and gas through intermediaries and at higher prices.