The systematic bombing of civilian targets in Ukraine has intensified the debate on Europe's dependence on Russian gas and oil.

Russia's energy exports are largely controlled by Putin's regime and oligarchs - and are crucial to the country's war treasury.

At the end of March, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj appealed in a speech via a link in the Swedish Parliament about a Swedish import ban on Russian energy. 

- Not a barrel of Russian oil, not a ship from Russia in your ports, he said then. 

"Some of Putin's closest associates"

As early as 2017, Assignment Review, as part of the international data leak Paradise Papers, revealed that the Russian energy company Sibur has close links to Putin.

These are three well-known oligarchs behind the company: Leonid Mikhelson, Kirill Shamalov and Gennady Timchenko.

"Mikhelson, Shamalov and Timchenko are some of Putin's closest associates," said British author and Russian expert Cathrine Belton.  

She says that "everyone should think twice before shopping from Sibur".

But despite the revelation, the company Borealis Sweden continued to buy gas from Sibur for its plant in Stenungsund.

50 tankers in the last four years

Borealis is a large international group operating in 120 countries and is Europe's second largest producer of plastics.

The company is the only manufacturer in Sweden of the plastic polyethylene - which is made of so-called LPG, liquefied petroleum gas. 

After February 24, when Russia attacked Ukraine, Borealis Sweden, active in the petrochemical industry in Stenungsund, has decided to phase out Russian gas.

But the company does not want to say how much gas they bought from Sibur after the revelation in 2017 until the war broke out.

Assignment review has been assisted in mapping the transports to Stenungsund by the maritime analyst Christopher Pålsson, at Lloyds List Intelligence.

In the company's large database, it is possible to trace ships' movements back in time. 

- We have only looked at so-called LPG tankers, with liquefied petroleum gas.

During the period, we have registered 50 such trips, says Christopher Pålsson. 

"Follow the rules that apply"

The survey thus shows that 50 tankers, in the last four years, have gone from Sibur in the Russian port of Ust-luga to Stenungsund and Borealis Sweden.

Each load is worth between SEK 50 and 100 million.

Purchases from Sibur have decreased every year, the latest vessel docked at Stenungsund just before Christmas. 

- We trade in a global market.

I think we followed the rules that apply, says Anders Fröberg, CEO of Borealis Sweden. 

Critics call it blood money, that they support the power in the Kremlin, and by extension the Russian war apparatus? 

- With the results in hand, perhaps one would have been much stronger from the entire EU side around the dependence on Russian gas and oil and seen the warning signals that existed.