EU ambassadors agree on plan to phase out Russian oil and gas by 2028 - Reuters

Ambassadors of the European Union countries on Wednesday, October 8, agreed on the details of a plan to abandon Russian oil and gas by January 2028, Reuters reports , citing diplomats. The project will be presented at the EU ministerial meeting on October 20.

According to the agency's sources, almost all EU countries expressed support for the plan. It remains criticized by Hungary and Slovakia, but if passed, the law would oblige those countries to develop their own national roadmaps to stop importing Russian oil and gas by 2028.

The plan assumes that from January 2026 the import of Russian gas under new contracts will be stopped, from June 2026 - under existing short-term contracts, and from January 2028 - under the remaining long-term contracts. Reuters notes that the issue of verifying the origin of liquefied natural gas remains unresolved: whether its supplies should undergo additional pre-checks and checks at EU ports to ensure that the gas is not Russian.

Agreeing on the plan at EU ambassadorial level means they will now send the document to their ministers for discussion at a meeting on October 20. The project must be approved by a “qualified majority” - at least 55% of EU member states.

A draft road map for the abandonment of Russian energy resources was presented by the European Commission in May of this year. In June, the Politico newspaper reported that the plan was not supported by Belgium and France, the two largest buyers of Russian LNG. Approval of the plan was later prevented by Hungary and Slovakia.

A ban on the purchase of Russian LNG by the end of 2026 may already be included in the 19th package of sanctions against the Russian Federation, Politico wrote . To override Prime Minister Viktor Orban's veto of new sanctions, the European Commission plans to unfreeze about €550 million of EU funds for Hungary.