Ten EU Countries Call for Sanctions on Russian Gas
- Ten European Union (EU) countries have called for the 27-nation bloc to ban imports of pipeline gas and liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Russia as Europe debates fresh sanctions on Moscow over the war in Ukraine.
- The EU is preparing its 16th package of sanctions targeting Russia's economy ahead of the third anniversary of Moscow's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
- The 10 countries, including the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, and Finland, want Europe to go further in targeting Russia's fuel exports to cut the revenues flowing to Moscow. "As an end goal, it is necessary to ban the import of Russian gas and LNG at the earliest date possible," the countries said in a joint paper, which was also signed by Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, and Sweden.
- "An alternative to the full ban could be to gradually reduce the use of Russian gas and LNG as has also already been set out in the RePowerEU Roadmap," the document said, referring to the EU's existing aim to end its use of Russian fossil fuels by 2027.
- The EU has already sanctioned seaborne oil imports from Russia but, so far, has not banned gas imports from Moscow because some EU countries continue to rely on them. The countries said Russian LNG tankers should also be banned from docking inside the EU.
- Europe's gas imports from former top supplier Russia have plunged since 2022, and the bloc has hiked imports of U.S. LNG and expanded its use of renewable energy to help fill the gap. Russian gas imports dropped further this month when a contract bringing Russian fuel to Europe via Ukraine expired. Notwithstanding, Slovakia has vowed to try to resume that deal.
(Source: Reuters)