EU seals landmark deal to ban all Russian gas imports within three years

EU lawmakers and member states early on Wednesday (Dec 3) announced that they have reached a deal to stop all Russian gas imports into the bloc by autumn 2027. The agreement is a middle ground between EU governments and the European Parliament, which had pushed for an earlier cutoff. In a statement, the European Council said the provisional deal will phase out Russian natural gas as part of efforts to break Europe’s long reliance on Moscow and respond to what it called Russia’s weaponisation of energy supplies.

EU phasing out Russian imports

"Today, the Council presidency and the European Parliament's representatives reached a provisional agreement on the regulation tophase out imports of Russian natural gas," said a European Council statement.

Under the plan, long-term contracts for Russian pipeline gas will end no later than November 1, 2027. Long-term liquified natural gas (LNG) contracts will halt from January 1, 2027. Short-term deals will be barred earlier, starting April 25, 2026, for LNG and June 17, 2026, for pipeline gas. The move aims "to end dependency on Russian energy following Russia's weaponisation of gas supplies with significant effects on the European energy market," said the EU. The timeline, as per AFP, still needs final approval from both the Parliament and EU member states.