New Delhi: Amid mounting political pressure to sever Russia’s main economic lifeline over its invasion of Ukraine, the European Union (EU) wants to vastly reduce Russian gas imports this year, news agency AFP reported quoting a top official said Tuesday. The development followed reports suggesting the United States has decided to ban Russian oil imports, toughening the toll on Russia’s economy.
However, unlike US, an oil import ban on Russia is considered too far for the Europeans, who fear that the economic consequences would be too severe. The European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, said it could erase a huge share of its dependency on Russia by tapping new gas supplies, ramping up reserves for next winter and accelerating efforts to be more energy efficient, according to the report.
“By the end of this year, we can replace 100 billion cubic metres of gas imports from Russia. That is two-thirds of what we import from them,” EU Commission vice president Frans Timmermans told reporters in Strasbourg, France.
“This will end our over-dependency and give us much needed room to maneuvre,” added Timmermans, who leads EU policy-making on energy and climate change.
The bloc, in its plan further said that EU bloc could become fully independent of Russian gas, oil and coal by 2030.
EU’s Dependency on Russian Oil
Natural gas from Russia accounts for 40 percent of EU’s gas needs, with Italy, Germany and several central European countries especially dependent. A quarter of its oil supply also comes from Russia.
This reliance has led EU nations to push back against calls by Kyiv and Washington to severely sanction Russia’s energy sector as Western allies seek more ways to hit Russia harder for its actions in Ukraine, according to AFP report.
“The reality is that there’s quite a number of our member states who would get into real trouble if overnight, all the energy would no longer be provided from Russia,” Timmermans told MEPs earlier. “So we need to make sure … we don’t do more harm to ourselves than we do to Putin,” he added.
How EU is planning to reduce it’s dependency of Russian oil
EU’s proposal, which is reportedly not binding, calls for 90 percent of gas storage capacity to be filled by September 30, up from about 30 percent now.
The recommendations from Brussels came just ahead of a meeting of EU leaders who will discuss ways to cut Europe’s energy ties to Russia for the long term.
The 27 leaders will agree “to phase out our dependency on Russian gas, oil and coal imports”, according to a draft of a declaration intended to end the meeting and seen by AFP.
Biden to ban Russian oil imports over Ukraine war
Earlier today, Associated Press quoted sources as saying that US President Joe Biden has decided to ban Russian oil imports, toughening the toll on Russia’s economy in retaliation for its invasion of Ukraine. The move follows pleas by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to US and Western officials to cut off the imports, which had been a glaring omission in the massive sanctions, put in place on Russia over the invasion.
Energy exports have kept a steady influx of cash flowing to Russia despite otherwise severe restrictions on its financial sector. The reduction in oil and gas export could give a fatal blow to Russia’s economy, which is already shaken due to economic sanctions by the west.
Biden was set to announce the move as soon as Tuesday, AP’s source, who is familiar with the matter, said on condition of anonymity. Meanwhile, the White House said Biden would announce “actions to continue to hold Russia accountable for its unprovoked and unjustified war on Ukraine.”
