The European Union proposed on September 19 to impose a ban on Russian gas imports, as part of a new package of sanctions targeting the revenues Moscow uses for the war, but also to meet the demand of US President Donald Trump.
Under the measures presented, which must be approved by the bloc’s member states, the European Commission said it aims to stop buying liquefied natural gas from Russia by January 2027 – a year earlier than planned.
“Russia’s war economy is being sustained by fossil fuel revenues. We want to cut off these revenues. Therefore, we will ban Russian liquefied natural gas from European markets,” said European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen.
“It’s time to turn off the tap,” she added.
The EC proposal comes after the United States pressured the European Union to halt fossil fuel imports from Russia. Meanwhile, the bloc is seeking to persuade Trump to take a tougher approach towards Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine.
The US leader said last week that he is ready to increase pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin if allies also stop buying Russian oil and impose tariffs on China.
The 27 EU member states have already banned most Russian oil through previous sanctions packages, causing imports to fall from 29 percent in 2021 to just 2 percent by the middle of this year.
Only Hungary and Slovakia still buy Russian energy.
Introducing the new EU sanctions package – the 19th since Moscow launched the war against Ukraine in 2022 – von der Leyen did not mention oil.
But the EU’s foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, said the bloc is proposing to stop all imports of Russian liquefied natural gas by 2027 – or 12 months earlier than planned.
“Our goal is to accelerate the phase out of Russian liquefied natural gas by January 1, 2027,” she wrote in X.
“Moscow thinks it can continue this war. We are making sure it pays a price for this,” Kallas added.
Despite efforts to end Europe’s dependence on Russian imports, Russia supplied 19 percent of the EU’s gas in 2024 – down from 45 percent before the war in Ukraine began.
This decline is mainly attributed to increased purchases of liquefied natural gas transported by ship, which have offset the decline in imports through pipelines.