Politico: The European Union is unlikely to close Russian gas pipelines with sanctions from the new package

The new sanctions package against Russia from the European Union is almost ready, but the countries cannot reach a consensus on the issue of Russian gas pipelines.

Politico believes that it is unlikely that the EU will completely abandon the remaining Russian gas, since Germany and Italy still have gas pipeline connections with the Russian Federation, despite the reduction of gas imports to almost zero.

This issue will be discussed at the G7 summit in Japan in order to create a mechanism for banning the resumption of gas imports from Russia, if Russia "opens" the taps again.

• Before the full-scale war, Russia supplied more than 40% of all gas imported by the EU. Now it is only 8%. For example, the flows of the Nord Stream gas pipeline, which supplied gas to Germany, and the Yamal gas pipeline, which ran through Poland, were reduced to zero. Meanwhile, pipeline transit through Ukraine is about a quarter of pre-war levels, and only the Turkish Stream pipeline in the Black Sea is operating almost as well as it was until February 24, 2022.
• Ukraine insists on a full energy embargo, an extension of the oil embargo on the northern branch of the Druzhba gas pipeline, and a ban on the import of liquefied gas from Russia.
• The eleventh package of sanctions against Russia aims to eliminate sanctions loopholes. Also in it, the European Commission proposes to prohibit ships trying to circumvent sanctions on Russian oil from entering European ports, and to punish those involved in the export of cultural values from the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine.
• At the same time, the EC wants to stop the export of technologies from eight Chinese companies, suspecting that they are selling them to Russia. This list also includes companies from Armenia, Iran, Uzbekistan and the United Arab Emirates.
• In early April, the Ukrainian president and the head of the European Commission discussed the implementation of the next, 11th package of sanctions against the Russian Federation. Subsequently, the EU Commissioner for Financial Affairs announced that new restrictive measures are ready. McGuinness said that Brussels will not only introduce additional sanctions against Moscow, but will also try to ensure effective enforcement of the sanctions to make it more difficult for individuals and legal entities to circumvent them.