BRUSSELS: European Union MPs called on the EU on Thursday to forbid the import of Russian LNG and to close sanctions loopholes that allow Moscow to finance its war in Ukraine.
EU ban on Russian LNG: From the beginning of the Kremlin’s full-scale invasion of Russia in February 2022, the European Union has slapped eleven rounds of unprecedented sanctions on the country.
Diplomats said that member states should consider a new set of penalties, which includes a ban on Russian diamonds, next week. Brussels is now drafting these recommendations.
In the upcoming sanctions package, a number of the more aggressive EU members in eastern Europe have also demanded that LNG be banned.
However, there doesn’t seem to be much support across the bloc for enforcing a ban that may further destabilise Europe’s already unstable petrol markets and drive up prices.
The European Parliament called on the EU to prohibit imports of liquefied natural gas and liquefied petroleum gas, which have contributed to the Kremlin’s financial gains, in a non-binding resolution.
According to a statement, “the European Union still remains one of Russia’s largest fossil fuel clients, due to various exceptions to the ban on importing crude oil and oil products, as well as continued imports of pipeline gas and LNG.”
For the most part, the EU has placed wide embargoes on Russian gas and oil entering the bloc.
However, advocacy organisation Global Witness reported in August that, since the invasion, the value of Russian LNG imports has increased by 40%, reaching 5.3 billion euros ($5.6 billion) for the first seven months of 2023.
Additionally, lawmakers demanded that the G7, of which the EU is a member, “substantially lower” a price restriction on Russian oil supplies, intending to reduce the revenues of the Kremlin.
