The European Commission is expected to propose a ban on new Russian gas contracts, invoking a trade law instead of typical sanctions in order to avoid veto threats from Hungary and Slovakia, which import Russian gas, the Financial Times reported.
The ban would force most companies to end existing short term gas agreements with Russia by 2026, and long term ones by 2028.
The move comes after the Commission published a roadmap last month to phase out Russian oil and gas imports by 2027.
In 2024, Russian gas accounted for 14% of EU fossil fuel imports — a drop since the Ukraine war began in 2022, when Russian fossil fuels accounted for around 40% of imports.
AD