EU seeks faster Russian gas phase-out after Trump push

BRUSSELS (TIP)- The European Union (EU) proposed on Friday (Sep 19) to bring forward by a year a ban on Russian gas imports as part of new sanctions to sap Moscow’s war chest and please United States President Donald Trump. The 19th package of EU sanctions targeting Moscow since the 2022 invasion of Ukraine also seeks to hit firms as well as banks and traders in China, India and other third countries accused of helping Russia circumvent sanctions. Under the proposal, which needs approval by the bloc’s 27 member states, the European Commission aims to phase out liquefied natural gas (LNG) purchases from Russia by January 2027.
“Russia’s war economy is sustained by revenues from fossil fuels. We want to cut these revenues,” commission chief Ursula von der Leyen said.
“It is time to turn off the tap”.
The new sanctions package comes as the US pressures the EU to end fossil fuel imports from Russia – and the bloc seeks in turn to coax Trump to take a tougher stance on Moscow over the Ukraine war. The US leader has so far held back from upping pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin, but said last week he was ready to do so if allies stopped buying Russian oil and hit China with tariffs.
RUSSIAN OIL IMPORTS SLASHED
The EU has already banned most Russian oil under previous rounds of sanctions – slashing the share it imports from 29 per cent in early 2021 to two per cent by mid-2025.
Only Hungary and Slovakia, friendly to Moscow and Trump, still buy Russian oil.
EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said Brussels was bringing forward by 12 months a previous pledge to end all imports of LNG from the end of 2027 to the end of 2026.
“Moscow thinks it can keep its war going. We are making sure it pays the price for it,” she wrote on X. Despite a push to end decades of European dependency, Russia still supplied 19 per cent of the EU’s gas in 2024 – down from 45 per cent before the war.