The European Union does not plan to resume imports of Russian gas even if a peace treaty is signed between Ukraine and the Russian Federation.
Points of attention
- EU Council has approved a historic phase-out plan for Russian gas imports starting January 1, 2026.
- The decision includes a transitional period for existing contracts, with short-term contracts potentially valid until June 17, 2026, and long-term contracts until January 1, 2028.
- The European Union remains firm on not resuming Russian gas imports even if a peace treaty is signed between Ukraine and Russia.
The European Union has made a historic decision on the purchase of Russian gas
This was stated by European Commissioner for Energy Dan Jorgensen.
On October 20, the EU Council approved a phase-out of Russian gas imports from January 1, 2026, based on a proposal from the European Commission. The European Commissioner called this decision historic.
As Jorgensen noted, this means that "even after a peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine, the European Union will import Russian energy."
In my opinion, in the future we should not import a single molecule of Russian energy carriers, and this is a very, very important signal to send.
As a reminder, today the Council of the European Union approved a plan to abandon Russian gas, bypassing the veto of the main buyers of its raw materials, Slovakia and Hungary. The complete ban on imports will come into effect from January 1, 2028.
The Council confirmed that imports of Russian gas will be banned from January 1, 2026, with a transitional period for existing contracts.
In particular, short-term contracts concluded before June 17, 2025, may be valid until June 17, 2026, and long-term contracts — until January 1, 2028.
It is also known that certain concessions are provided for landlocked countries such as Hungary and Slovakia.
