10 EU Nations Say It’s Time to Sanction Russian Natural Gas, LNG

A group of 10 European Union nations is pushing to toughen sanctions against Russia by introducing further restrictions on natural gas and bolstering the enforcement of a price cap on oil.

Author of the article:

Bloomberg News

Ewa Krukowska

Published Jan 13, 2025  •  2 minute read

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(Bloomberg) — A group of 10 European Union nations is pushing to toughen sanctions against Russia by introducing further restrictions on natural gas and bolstering the enforcement of a price cap on oil.

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The allies, which include Sweden, Ireland, Poland and the three Baltic nations, want to prohibit imports of pipeline and liquefied natural gas to the bloc to limit the revenues that the Kremlin uses to finance the war in Ukraine. 

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While the EU has already banned imports of Russian oil, the reliance of several countries on gas from Moscow has stopped it from sanctioning that fuel. Restrictive measures require unanimous approval from the EU’s 27 member states, which has become an increasingly difficult hurdle with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban openly skeptical of such steps.

“As an end goal, it is necessary to ban the import of Russian gas and LNG at the earliest date possible,” the countries, which also include Denmark, Finland, the Czech Republic and Romania, said in a document seen by Bloomberg News. “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 RePowerEU strategy, adopted by the bloc in 2022 to weaken the Russian war chest, aims to phase out Russian fossil fuels, diversify energy supply and boost renewable sources. The European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, wants to unveil next month a detailed plan to wean off energy from Moscow. 

But Europe has been watching nervously as gas prices creep up because of cold weather and new U.S. sanctions on Russian energy.

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Even as the EU pursued a diversification push, the value of imports of oil, gas and coal from Moscow reached more then €200 billion ($204 billion) since the start of the war, the group of countries said in the document shared with other member states as the bloc prepares for talks on its next sanctions package.

While overall fossil fuel supplies from Russia have fallen, the amount of LNG coming to the EU has seen a marked increase, hitting a record in the first half of last year. 

“In any event, the Russian LNG tanker fleet needs to be subject to targeted sanctions prohibiting docking and maritime services on EU territory,” according to the document.

The countries also want an export and acquisition ban related to LNG projects, which is currently limited to those under construction, to be broadened to completed projects and their maintenance. 

They also are pushing for additional restrictive measures and more listings of tankers carrying Russia oil to third countries. This shadow fleet, which has helped Moscow work around the price cap imposed by the Group of Seven nations, poses environmental, maritime safety and security risks, according to the document.

As the EU begins internal consultations its 16th package of sanctions against Russia, the countries also floated other measures including:

• additional import bans on metals
• widening the transit ban of sanctioned goods through Russia
• strengthen the mechanisms used to prevent sanctions circumvention
• further sanctions on financial institutions and the IT sector

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