Governments in Europe have a choice to make: do they continue to turn a blind eye to this blood money, or do they face it head-on and make sure the right thing is done, Lucy Hall writes.

This week, Russia’s largest oil company, Rosneft, announced it will pay its shareholders 406.5 billion roubles (€4.08 bn) in dividend payments for last year.

One of these shareholders is British oil major BP, which, despite pledging to sell its one-fifth stake in Rosneft when Russia invaded Ukraine, still owns the same amount now as it did at the start of the war.

BP, which operates in seven countries in the EU, including Germany and Belgium, stands to net over 80bn roubles (€797 million) from the Russian oil major. This money amounts to wartime profits.