The EU postpones plans to completely abandon Russian energy carriers
28 January 08:54
The European Commission is likely to postpone the planned date of publication of a roadmap for phasing out the last fuels from Russia, including liquefied natural gas (LNG). This was reported by Komersant ukrainskyi citing Bloomberg.
According to sources with knowledge of the situation, the EU executive body may present the plan on March 26, a month later than originally planned. The sources wished to remain anonymous due to the sensitivity of the issue. The roadmap is expected to outline the necessary steps for EU member states to completely phase out Russian fuel as part of an overall effort to cut off funding for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Liquefied natural gas from Moscow remains one of Europe’s last major energy dependencies after pipeline shipments through Ukraine were cut off late last year. Last year, the EU imported record volumes of Russian LNG, with France, Spain, and Belgium being the largest importers. This trend continued in 2025. In addition, some EU countries still import nuclear fuel from Russia.
A group of 10 EU countries has been pushing for tougher measures against Russia by imposing restrictions on natural gas and LNG. However, these efforts are complicated by the need to achieve unanimity among all 27 members of the bloc. The Commission has set a non-binding goal of completely cutting off Russian supplies by 2027.
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Europe and gas
As of the beginning of 2022, the EU was 40% dependent on Russian gas. In 2021, 65% of the gas purchased by Germany was Russian. In the third quarter of 2023, only 12% of the gas imported by the EU remained Russian.
On January 1, 2025, due to the expiration of the contract, Ukraine stopped transiting Russian gas. At the same time, some EU countries, such as Hungary and Slovakia, remain dependent on it. These countries’ contracts with Gazprom provide for gas supplies through the Ukrainian gas transportation system. Austria has signed a contract for gas supplies until 2040, but it has already declared that it has become independent of Russian fuel.
Slovakia and Hungary insist on extending the agreement. Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico even threatened to cut off electricity supplies to Ukraine and reduce support for refugees if Kyiv did not give in.
With both Nord Stream and the Ukrainian gas transportation system out of commission, Russia will be able to supply gas to Europe only through the Turkish Stream.
According to the Center for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA), since the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion, the European Union has purchased 212 billion euros worth of energy from Russia.