## Reading the comparison

Phase one of the diesel deal is smaller than Germany's gas bill in just the first 100 days of the war, and smaller than what France spent on Russian LNG over three and a half years. Even the maximum $7 billion version sits below Germany's first-year gas spending and roughly half of France's cumulative LNG total. Put another way, the EU's €21.9 billion in the war's third year alone is several times the deal's headline value.

Three caveats worth keeping in mind. First, the diesel volumes are sold to "U.S. and global markets," so not all of that revenue is attributable to American buyers. Second, the $2.8bn and $7bn figures are analyst estimates built on an assumed spot price, not disclosed contract terms — and analysts quoted by Reuters expect Russia may struggle to physically deliver the promised volumes. Third, the comparison is gross purchase value, not profit, and the two sides of it cover different periods: Germany's Russian gas purchases collapsed after 2022, while France's LNG buying continued and even rose — French purchases of Russian energy were up 40% year-on-year to €2.2 billion in the first eight months of 2025 (Reuters, citing CREA data).

One thing I couldn't verify: a single clean, like-for-like cumulative gas-only figure for both countries over an identical window. The numbers above come from different snapshots, so treat the ratios as indicative rather than precise.
Glad I could help put those numbers in perspective. The comparison shows how significant European energy payments to Russia have been historically — and how even this controversial diesel deal, while politically contentious, is modest by comparison.

Можно увидеть такую же кампанию с криками "ЕС ПРОРОСЕЙСКЕЙ РРРЯЯЯ" как и против Трампа? Cпасибо.