Russia peddles Europe-sanctioned excess energy to crypto miners

Russian crypto miners can use natural gas, in excess since Europe started cutting energy purchases from Russia, to mint digital coins, a government official has suggested.

The proposal comes after the presentation of a roadmap in Brussels meant to steer the European Union away from Russian gas, oil and nuclear fuel imports in the coming years.

Natural gas should power crypto mining in the Far East, minister says

Natural gas, of which Russia has surplus quantities since it started losing European markets, can be utilized to power cryptocurrency mining operations, according to Aleksey Chekunkov, head of Russia’s Ministry for the Development of the Far East and the Arctic.

Quoted by the Tass news agency, Chekunkov insisted mining farms should not tap into the electricity distributed to businesses and households. Speaking to reporters in the city of Khabarovsk, administrative center of the Far Eastern Federal District, the minister elaborated:

“You can mine using your own resources, using gas. We have a lot of gas that we used to sell to Europe. Now it’s in the ground. Please, install power plants and mine.”

The expanding crypto mining industry, which Moscow legalized and regulated last year, has been blamed for energy shortages in a number of Russian regions, including Russia’s “mining capital,” Irkutsk Oblast.

A ban on mining in parts of the country, which began as a seasonal measure during the cold winter months, has grown into a permanent prohibition in about a dozen territories, including the Russian republics in the Caucasus and the occupied lands of Ukraine.

On June 4, a government commission will consider proposals to introduce a year-round mining ban in another five regions facing power deficits – Transbaikal, Buryatia, northern Karelia, the Penza region, and parts of Khakassia.

Meanwhile, Russian Deputy Minister of Energy Evgeny Grabchak revealed last week that the federal government may ask crypto miners to move to the north of the country. The idea is to utilize currently idle generation capacities and transmission infrastructure, including at depleted oil fields.

Europe speeds up plan to end dependence on Russian energy

The proposal to power Bitcoin mining farms with excess natural gas in Russia comes after the recent adoption of a roadmap in Brussels to completely eliminate the EU’s dependency on Russian energy within a couple of years.

The document was presented on May 6, around the third anniversary of the approval of a plan to phase out Russian fossil fuels. The latter was published just two weeks after Russian forces invaded Ukraine in February 2022.

War-related sanctions have led to a significant reduction in energy imports from the Russian Federation over the course of the past three years, Euronews noted in a report this week. The broadcaster detailed:

“Oil fell from 27% in 2022 to 3% in 2025, gas fell from 45% to 19% in the same period and coal, which at the time accounted for 50% of EU consumption, stopped entering the EU altogether.”

However, the European Commission admitted that “despite the significant progress achieved under the REPowerEU plan, and via 16 sanction packages introduced since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the EU saw a rebound in Russian gas imports in 2024.”

Its new REPowerEU roadmap now pushes for a “coordinated, secure and gradual phase out of Russian gas, oil and nuclear energy imports.” It sets a clear target – to end Russian gas imports to the European Union by 2027 and requires member states to submit national plans to reach the goal.

Last year, 10 EU countries imported 52 billion cubic meters of Russian natural gas, three bought 13 million tonnes of oil and seven member states acquired 2,800 tonnes of enriched uranium and nuclear fuel, the Commission’s stats show. Russian energy exports to the EU returned €23 billion to Moscow in 2024.

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