The European Union (EU) should slap new sanctions on Russia’s exports of liquefied natural gas (LNG), its shadow fleet of ageing oil tankers and major energy companies over its war on Ukraine, European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said on Friday.
“It is time to turn off the tap,” on LNG, Ms von der Leyen said in a video statement outlining the commission’s new sanctions proposals.
They must be endorsed by the 27 EU countries before they can be put into action.
“I now call on member states to quickly endorse these new sanctions. We want Russia to leave the battlefield and come to the negotiation table, and this is the way to give peace a real chance,” she said.
The bloc has already agreed on 18 packages of sanctions against Russia, but getting final agreement on who and what to target can take weeks.
More than 2,500 “entities” including banks, ministries, energy companies and officials have already been hit.
The officials include president Vladimir Putin and his associates, scores of Russian politicians and several oligarchs. Travel bans and asset freezes are the most common measures.
Energy revenue is the linchpin of Russia’s economy, allowing Mr Putin to pour money into the armed forces without worsening inflation for everyday people and avoiding a currency collapse.
Europe is the biggest buyer of Russia’s LNG cargoes, taking about half of what Russia exports. Russian LNG took up about 16 per cent of the EU’s total LNG imports last year.
EU members Hungary and Slovakia have opposed any phase out and could pose an obstacle to the sanctions move.
Ms von der Leyen insisted that EU sanctions are having an impact.
“Russia’s overheated war economy is coming to its limit,” she said, noting in particular constant high inflation in Russia.
The commission proposed targeting 118 additional vessels from Russia’s shadow fleet of ships transporting oil, bringing the total hit to over 560.
“Major energy trading companies Rosneft and Gazprom Neft will now be on a full transaction ban, and other companies will also come under an asset freeze,” if the measures are endorsed, the head of the EU’s executive branch also said.
Part of the plan would be to go “after those who fuel Russia’s war by purchasing oil in breach of the sanctions,” she said.
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Ms von der Leyen said that the commission wanted to “target refineries, oil traders, petrochemical companies and third countries including China”.
The sanctions would also include export restrictions on “items and technologies” that can be used on the battlefield.
A further 45 companies in Russia and elsewhere would be hit, for “providing direct or indirect support to the Russian military industrial complex”, the commission president said.
In a separate statement, EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said the aim was to usher in “a full prohibition of Russian LNG imports by January 2027”.
Ms Kallas added that another idea was to make it easier to go after people involved in abducting Ukrainian children.
Russia has faced international condemnation over the deportation of Ukrainian families, including many children, since 2022.
“Tearing children from their families and deporting them to re-education camps is beyond description. We will not let Russia weaponise childhood itself,” Ms Kallas said in a post on social media.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said earlier this week that any EU proposal to phase out Russian energy more quickly would not affect Russia and would not force it to change its position.
US president Donald Trump is pressing Europe to play a more robust role in helping end Russia’s war in Ukraine, demanding it shoulder a greater burden of the cost of shoring up Ukraine’s military and do more to deprive Moscow of the energy revenues bankrolling its war economy.
The proposal risks compelling EU countries to cover any shortfalls in LNG supplies through purchases from the US, increasing their energy dependency on the country in an era when Washington is using trade tariffs as a policy tool.
One European official said advancing the ban on Russian LNG became a “priority” after von der Leyen spoke with Trump this week.
What is in the latest proposed round of sanctions?
The commission proposed on Friday its 19th package of sanctions against Russia over its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Member states will now have to discuss the package before adopting it unanimously. They include:
– Energy measures
- A ban on Russian LNG from January 1st, 2027, bringing forward the date that was proposed to member states via other legal texts.
- The EU will list 118 new vessels in Moscow’s shadow fleet, bringing the total to over 560.
- List oil traders, refineries and petrochemical companies in third countries that breach sanctions including in China.
– Financial measures
- A transaction ban on more Russian banks and their operations in third countries, as well as cryptocurrency platforms and restrictions on crypto-services for Russian nationals.
– Export bans
- Tighter export controls on an additional 45 Russian and third country entities, including in China and India.
- Bans on chemicals, metal components, salts, and ores useful to Russia’s military.
- Bans on investment in certain “special economic zones” in Russia relevant for the war effort with the option to extend to list ports outside Russia used for weapons transfers or the shadow fleet.
- Bans on high-tech services including geospatial information, AI, and high performance computing.
- Restrictions related to tourism in Russia.
– Children
- Sanctions on individuals involved in the abduction and indoctrination of Ukrainian children.