EU seeks to speed up Russian gas phase-out after Trump push

The European Union proposed Friday to bring forward a ban on Russian gas imports as part of a new package of sanctions aimed at sapping Moscow's war chest -- and pleasing U.S. President Donald Trump.

Under the measures presented for approval by the bloc's member states, the European Commission said it aims to phase out liquefied natural gas (LNG) purchases from Russia by January 2027 -- one year earlier than planned.

"Russia's war economy is sustained by revenues from fossil fuels. We want to cut these revenues. So we are banning imports of Russian LNG into European markets," commission chief Ursula von der Leyen said.

"It is time to turn off the tap".

The proposal comes as the United States pressures the EU to end fossil fuel imports from Russia -- and the bloc seeks in turn to persuade Trump to take a tougher stance on Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine.

The U.S. 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.

The 27-nation EU has already banned most Russian oil under previous rounds of sanctions -- slashing the share it imports from 29 percent in early 2021 to two percent by mid-2025.

Only Hungary and Slovakia, friendly to Moscow and Trump, still buy the stuff.

- 'Pay the price' -

Presenting the new EU sanctions package -- the 19th targeting Moscow since the Ukraine war began in 2022 -- von der Leyen made no mention of oil.

But EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said the bloc was bringing forward by 12 months a previous pledge to end all imports of LNG by the end of 2027.

"Our aim is to speed up the phase-out of Russian liquefied natural gas by 1 Jan 2027," she wrote on X.

"Moscow thinks it can keep its war going. We are making sure it pays the price for it."

Despite a push to end decades of European dependency, Russia still supplied 19 percent of the EU's gas in 2024 -- down from 45 percent before the war.

This is in part down to an increase in purchases of LNG transported by sea, which have partially offset a sharp fall in pipeline imports.

In 2024, 32 billion cubic meters of gas entered Europe via the TurkStream pipeline, and 20 billion cubic meters through liquefied natural gas (LNG) shipments.

Most LNG is imported through terminals in France, Spain, Italy, the Netherlands and Belgium -- although it is hard to know how much is also consumed there or simply passes through towards other nations.

The United States -- the world's top oil producer -- is the largest supplier of the stuff, accounting for almost 45 percent of total EU LNG imports.