The pro-Russian segment of the network is spreading information that allegedly the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen said that “the European Union is forced to buy Russian oil so that Putin does not earn more money elsewhere”.  The corresponding statement was made at the opening of the European Political Community summit on November 7, 2024 in Budapest.

However, propagandists distorted her words and changed the context of the statement, writes the StopFake project. First of all, this quote is not from von der Leyen's speech at the Budapest summit, but from an interview with the MSNBC channel more than two years ago. In that interview, the President of the European Commission said that a complete embargo on Russian oil products is not an appropriate option for economically isolating Russia. According to the politician, a sharp end to the EU's purchase of oil from Russia would allow it to sell resources on the world market, then prices would inevitably rise, and this would further replenish Moscow's military budget. She spoke in favor of implementing a strategic and gradual policy of abandoning Russian oil. At the same time, von der Leyen emphasized that the EU plans to get rid of its dependence on Russian minerals and never return to it again.

Also in the same interview, the President of the European Commission announced another package of sanctions against Russia (as of November 2024, 14 of them have already been adopted). The EU is trying to replace Russian minerals with analogues from other countries: recently, von der Leyen announced Europe's plans to buy liquefied natural gas from the United States instead of Russia.

In turn, in Budapest, which was written about by propagandists, von der Leyen only indirectly recalled the victory over the energy crisis caused by the Russian invasion of Ukraine, as an example of the unity and strength of the European community.

Russian propaganda regularly resorts to manipulating the words of Western politicians. For example, they previously analyzed the manipulation, they say, von der Leyen allegedly stated that Ukraine will join the EU in 20-30 years.