The European Council and the European Parliament have agreed on final rules requiring EU member states to completely stop importing Russian natural gas by September 30, 2027. This is stated in an official statement by the European Council.
The document provides for a legally binding schedule for reducing imports and gradually phasing out all contracts related to Russian gas.
The EU has approved three key stages:
1. By June 2026
complete cessation of spot purchases of Russian gas;
ban on short-term purchasing schemes through intermediaries.
2. By January 1, 2027
termination of all long-term contracts for the supply of LNG (liquefied natural gas) from Russia;
ban on new LNG contracts with Russian companies.
3. By September 30, 2027
complete cessation of pipeline gas supplies from the Russian Federation, including transit routes;
technical disconnection of infrastructure from Russian gas sources.
The European Council statement notes that this decision is critical for:
Europe’s energy independence,
reducing strategic vulnerability,
depriving Russia of energy revenues used to finance the war against Ukraine.
The EU has already reduced its share of Russian gas from more than 40% in 2021 to less than 10% in 2025, mainly due to increased LNG imports from the US, Qatar, and Norway, as well as the development of green energy.
This is the first legally binding decision setting a specific date for the complete “zeroing” of Russian gas. Previously, such statements were political in nature, but now they have become part of EU energy legislation. For the EU, this is an expensive but achieved goal of energy security. For Russia, it means the loss of its main gas export market for a generation to come.