The European Union has increased its imports of Russian LNG as tensions over Russian natural gas flowing through pipelines in Ukraine escalate, Bloomberg reported.

The bloc has bought a record amount of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Russia this year, data analyzed by Bloomberg show. Among the bloc’s biggest buyers, France has already surpassed its previous record for Russian LNG imports, and Spain is also close to matching last year’s record.

These figures show that Europe is still dependent on energy from Russia, which remains one of the continent’s largest gas suppliers, despite a drastic reduction in pipeline gas deliveries starting in 2022. Even though EU officials and Kiev have called for a halt to Russian gas purchases, there is still no bloc-wide ban, and Russian gas remains a cheap option for many buyers, according to Agerpres.

Countries such as the UK, Germany and the Baltic states have stopped buying Russian gas altogether. But after Russian liquefied gas is regasified in France, Belgium or the Netherlands and enters the transmission networks, Russian gas molecules can also reach other countries.

Earlier this year, the bloc agreed, for the first time, to impose some restrictions on Russian liquefied gas, targeting Russia’s shadow fleet of ships, as well as fuel deliveries to third countries. France and Belgium have also called for stricter monitoring.

Russia’s share of the continent’s total gas imports, currently at 15%, could fall further next year as the agreement on Russian gas transit via Ukraine expires on December 31. The chances of a new deal are slim after intense talks in recent days. But for now, Russia remains the bloc’s second-largest supplier of liquefied natural gas, after the United States.

Last month, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen suggested that it might be possible to import more liquefied natural gas from the United States to replace Russian liquefied natural gas. US President-elect Donald Trump recently threatened to impose tariffs on EU exports if EU member states do not buy more oil and gas from his country.