Brussels heeds Trump's advice and moves forward with a complete disconnection from Russian gas.

BrusselsDonald Trump's pressure on the European Union has had an effect. Just days after the US president asked the European bloc to disconnect energetically from Russia Once and for all, Brussels has announced that it will propose to the Member States to bring forward the ban on liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports. According to the head of European diplomacy, Kaja Kallas, and the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, the maximum deadline is being reduced by one year, and starting in January, EU countries will have to stop importing them.

Before Trump's pressure, the European Commission had wanted to give Member States more leeway to find alternative energy supplies. In fact, some large energy companies have expressed their doubts and point out that they have contracts signed with Russian suppliers for years in the future, well beyond 2027. That's why these companies are demanding compensation from Brussels, which has not yet clarified how it plans to remedy the situation.

Beyond the large energy companies, there are also Member States that are not entirely convinced. Some countries continue to import large quantities of LNG. Spain, for example, is the second largest buyer in the European Union, behind only France. According to data from the energy-focused NGO Cores, 15% of the gas Spain buys still comes from Russia.

However, the leaders of the European Commission defended the measure and assured that member states "are already prepared to do so." "They have been saving energy, diversifying supply, and investing in low-carbon energy sources like never before," the president of the EU executive stated. She also pointed out that "Russia's war economy is sustained by revenue from fossil fuels" and, in fact, the EU still allocates more money to purchasing energy products from Putin's regime (€21.9 billion) than to sending humanitarian and military aid to Ukraine (€18.7 billion annually).

Brussels has also proposed further measures against the so-called ghost fleet of Russian ships and refineries that circumvent oil sanctions. Von der Leyen also announced a reduction in the maximum oil price to $47.60 and said that to combat sanctions evasion against Russian crude, another 118 ships from the ghost fleet that helps evade the restrictive measures will be banned.

The President of the European Commission will also propose to member states that Russian energy companies Rosneft and Gazprom Neft be subject to a total transaction ban. "We are going after those who fuel Russia's war by buying oil in violation of sanctions. We are focusing on refineries, oil traders, and petrochemical companies in third countries, including China," she stressed. Along the same lines of preventing Moscow from evading sanctions, Von der Leyen has proposed extending the ban on transactions by Russian and third-country banks and said that for the first time, the restrictive measures will affect cryptocurrency platforms and transactions in these digital assets.

Sanctions, "an effective tool"

The EU president also indicated that they will add more direct restrictions on the export of items and technologies that Russia uses on the battlefield in Ukraine, and that another 45 companies from Russia and third countries that have been "providing direct or indirect support to the Russian military-industrial complex" will be sanctioned. "We know that our sanctions are an effective tool of economic pressure. And we will continue to use them until Russia sits down at the negotiating table with Ukraine to achieve a just and lasting peace," she emphasized. "This is Russia's war, and whoever is responsible must pay for it. The assets themselves will not be touched. And the risk must be borne collectively. Ukraine will only repay the loan once Russia pays reparations," she added.

In turn, European diplomacy has also highlighted that the new sanctions proposals will limit Russia's access to technologies such as artificial intelligence and geospatial data, and to critical resources that fuel arms production, including "receipts from foreign suppliers, such as China and India."