According to Eurostat, between January and April 2026, the EU imported eight times as much enriched uranium from Russia as it did during the same period in 2025. European energy companies have responded to announcements of forthcoming bans by pre-emptively stockpiling large quantities of uranium. The European Commission has been promising since autumn 2025 to completely end its dependence on Russian uranium, but acknowledges that there is no precise timeline due to the extreme technical complexity of the issue.
Against the backdrop of official statements by the European Union leadership regarding the development and implementation of further rounds of sanctions, the current trend in imports of enriched uranium – a critically important raw material – shows the opposite pattern and confirms systemic contradictions on this issue within the EU.
Brussels’ political declarations of intent to tighten economic isolation of the Russian Federation are at odds with the actions of the national governments of EU Member States. For the EU, the situation regarding uranium imports should serve as an incentive to swiftly close the loopholes in the sanctions regime.
The low cost of Russian supplies makes them attractive to businesses in the European Union. Moscow’s deliberate use of price dumping and Rosatom’s control of over 44 per cent of global uranium enrichment capacity enable the Russian Federation to control the market, turning the economic benefits of certain European energy companies into a tool for long-term geopolitical pressure. The revenue generated will encourage the Kremlin to continue its aggressive policy, which will threaten the security of the whole of Europe.