The European Union agreed to slap a new raft of sanctions against Russia, targeting for the first time supplies of liquefied natural gas (LNG), which several member states continue to buy despite the war in Ukraine being well into its third year.
The sanctions represent the 14th package enforced since February 2022 and come at a delicate time on the battlefield, as Russian troops attempt to seize their renewed momentum to make further territorial gains.
The package is the result of protracted negotiations among ambassadors, who spent weeks haggling over highly technical details. The approval was delayed several times over the reservations voiced by several countries, including Hungary, which had previously vowed to block any sanctions in the energy sector.
However, the last hold-out was Germany over the “no Russia clause,” which imposes obligations on companies to keep sensitive goods away from the Kremlin.
Brussels missed two self-imposed deadlines – the G7 in Italy and the Peace Summit in Switzerland – to give Germany more time to work things out. On Thursday morning, the country signalled its concerns had been satisfied, paving the way for the deal.
The LNG clampdown, though, falls short of an all-out import ban like the bloc previously did with coal and seaborne oil, two of Moscow’s largest sources of revenues.
Instead, EU companies will still be allowed to purchase Russian LNG but be prohibited from re-exporting it to other countries, a practice known as trans-shipment.
The Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA), an independent organisation that tracks Russian fossil fuels, estimates that in 2023 the bloc paid €8.3 billion for 20 billion cubic metres (bcm) of Russian LNG, representing 5% of the total gas consumption, Euronews reports.
