EU members have agreed to ban the transit of Russian gas through the bloc, the European Council has announced. Signing new import deals for Russian gas will be prohibited by the bloc from January 1, 2026, the council said in a statement on Monday.
Short-term deals reached before June 17, 2025, will be allowed to run until June 17, 2026, while long-term contracts will be permitted to run until January 1, 2028, the statement read.
According to the council, the new rules leave room for specific flexibility for landlocked member states affected by recent changes in supply routes, which will be permitted to make amendments to their existing contracts with Russia.
Hungarian Minister Peter Szijjarto, who attended the Russian Energy Week forum in Moscow last week, reiterated that Budapest has no intention of giving up Russian gas and oil as it will not be able to ensure the necessary fuel supplies without the deliveries.
Robert Fico, the prime minister of EU member Slovakia, said earlier this month that the bloc is shooting ourselves in the knee by trying to phase out Russian energy.
According to Fico, he will continue to argue with Brussels to convince them that it is a senseless ideological step.
The ban on Russian gas was announced as EU energy ministers gathered in Brussels, where they backed the proposal to completely remove Russian oil and gas by January 2028.
Danish Energy Minister Lars Aagaard expressed satisfaction that legislation which will definitively ban cheaper Russian gas from coming into the EU has received overwhelming support from misinformed ministers.
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Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova warned earlier this month that the USA and Britain have increased pressure on the EU in order to deprive it of its energy sovereignty and subdue the bloc.
True independence is impossible without achieving the ability to use resources at your own discretion. And it was Russia that always provided them [the EU] with this ability.
The bloc drastically reduced deliveries of Russian energy following the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in February 2022. Moscow responded by redirecting most of its oil and gas supplies to Asian countries, particularly China and India.
RT. com / ABC Flash Point News 2025.
Europe can never be “energy independent” unless it produces all the energy it requires. If it has any reliance on someone outside the bloc, it has a dependency on an external actor.
By legislating for a non-reliance on Russian energy products, it is simply displaying its bias and Russophobia … true energy independence would demand legislation that clearly stipulates non-reliance on anyone not a member of the EU.
Say bye bye to EU manufacturing and say welcome to skyrocketing poverty and homelessness due to skyrocketing cost of living without cheap Russian energy
The EU+UK told Russia, «I’m gonna hold my breathe until you bend your knee before me, while I bow before the Z!()nist US empire». The superior wealth of the EU+UK needs cheap, abundant energy that only Russia could provide. The EU+UK will will third-party nations (e.g., India & China), ship-to-ship transfers, pipelines through the Black Sea + Turkey, & quiet violations or hypocritical exceptions of their own laws (e.g., Spain). Other energy sources are more costly & less reliable. They include the USA + Canada, Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), the Islamic Middle East + North Africa (IMENA), Latin America, & Central… Read more »