The EU has agreed on a plan to abandon Russian gas by 2027
3 December 2025 09:15
The Council of the European Union and the European Parliament have reached a preliminary agreement on the regulations for phasing out Russian natural gas imports by 2027 as part of the REPowerEU plan. This was reported by "Komersant Ukrainian" with reference to DW.
“This is a great victory for us and for the whole of Europe. We have to end the EU’s dependence on Russian gas, and its permanent ban in the EU is an important step in the right direction,” said Lars Ogard, Minister of Climate, Energy and Utilities of Denmark, the country’s President of the Council of the European Union.
According to the plan, a transition period will be maintained for existing contracts. For example, for short-term contracts concluded before June 17, 2025, the import ban will come into force on April 25, 2026 for liquefied natural gas and on June 17, 2026 for pipeline gas.
For long-term LNG supply contracts, the ban will take effect from January 1, 2027 in accordance with the 19th EU sanctions package. Long-term pipeline gas supply contracts will be gradually terminated starting from September 30, 2027, subject to reaching the targeted gas stock levels, but no later than November 1, 2027.
Inspections of gas imports to the European Union
To ensure compliance with the ban, the EU will introduce a system of pre-authorization for imports. For Russian gas, the information required to obtain a permit must be submitted at least one month before delivery. The pre-authorization procedure will not apply to imports from gas producing countries that exported more than 5 bcm of natural gas to the EU in 2024, countries that ban or restrict gas imports from Russia, and countries that do not have the infrastructure to import.
Imports of Russian gas to the EU after the Russian invasion of Ukraine
After Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the EU countries agreed on the need to stop importing Russian gas as soon as possible, but in practice, this was not possible. As of October 2025, Russian gas accounted for 12% of EU gas imports. At the beginning of the war, Russian gas supplies accounted for about 45% of all EU gas imports.
