Citing its calculations based on market data, a report published in Bloomberg on Sunday said $1 trillion is a broad tally of more expensive energy for consumers and companies in European countries.
That marks just the beginning, according to the report, as high prices are expected to last years and no relief on global gas markets is expected until 2026 when additional production capacity from the US to Qatar becomes available.
Most member states of the European Union decided to stop importing gas from Russia over the war in Ukraine, turning to more expensive alternatives.
Comment: But, secretly, they're still importing Russian energy, just not enough: UK 'quietly' imports $919 million worth of Russian oil since March - The Times
The report also referred to more than $700 billion pledged by the European Union governments to protect consumers and companies from soaring prices, noting that aid is becoming increasingly unaffordable as interest rates are rising and economies are already in recession amid the war in Ukraine.
"Once you add everything up โ bailouts, subsidies โ it is a ridiculously large amount of money," Martin Devenish, a director at consultancy S-RM, said. "It's going to be a lot harder for governments to manage this crisis next year."
Russia launched the war on Ukraine in late February, following Kiev's failure to implement the terms of the 2014 Minsk agreements and Moscow's recognition of the breakaway regions of Donetsk and Luhansk.
Since then, the US and its European allies have imposed unprecedented waves of economic sanctions against Moscow while supplying large consignments of heavy weaponry to Kiev.
Moscow has been critical of the weapons supplies to Kiev, warning that it will only prolong the war.
The "Fund to Combat Russian Influence" is responsible for financing the anti-Russian policy - a report on its activities since 2017 was recently published.
According to published information, the fund spent $1.5 billion to "fight against Russian influence," with money going to 30 countries, from Moldova to Malta.
As you can see below from the table, the biggest "jackpot" went to Moldova - the fund transferred 98 million dollars to Chisinau, Serbia received 55 million dollars, another 61 million went to Kosovo. Ukraine received about 10 million dollars.
The money was spent on organizing anti-Russian movements, and apparently these funds were not wasted in the aforementioned Moldova or Ukraine. The foundation also promoted "American values", working with pro-Western NGOs