Stay informed with free updates
Simply sign up to the War in Ukraine myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox.
The EU has agreed its first sanctions against Russian gas by targeting the country’s lucrative liquefied natural gas shipments, as part of its latest package of restrictions against Moscow in response to its invasion of Ukraine.
The deal struck between member state ambassadors on Thursday will prohibit Russian exporters from using EU ports to transfer gas between large tankers and smaller vessels destined for third countries. But it falls short of a full ban on EU states purchasing the fuel.
Imports of Russian LNG to the EU have increased since its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 as the bloc’s member states seek to replace supplies of pipeline gas that have been steadily cut off by Moscow.
Concerns about the EU running short of gas and a need to meet storage targets that ensure sufficient supplies in winter have increased Brussels’ wariness about imposing sanctions on the super-chilled fuel.
“This package provides new targeted measures and maximises the impact of existing sanctions by closing loopholes,” the Belgian presidency of the council of the EU said.
The package, which is the 14th set of measures against Moscow since the outbreak of war against Ukraine, was intended to be agreed last week before a summit of G7 leaders and a conference dedicated to discussing Ukraine’s peace proposals. But it was delayed due to resistance from Germany over agreeing a separate provision that tightened restrictions on companies whose goods end up in Russia.
The European Commission has agreed to postpone the application of that provision until it completes an assessment to assuage Berlin’s concerns, EU diplomats said.
Under the LNG sanctions, EU ports will be forbidden from permitting large tankers from Russia to unload their cargo into smaller ships bound for third countries.
This is particularly crucial for Russia, which relies on Arctic icebreakers that transport their cargos from Yamal LNG, its major LNG facility in the north, to smaller ships at Europe’s warm water ports.
According to a study by Belgian NGO Bond Beter Leefmilieu published this week, Russian gas passing through EU ports generated around €3.4bn in revenues.
The sanctions also include measures to restrict Russia’s use of its so-called shadow fleet of oil tankers. These vessels operate without western insurance and under third-country registration to avoid western sanctions against trading in crude above a certain price point.
It also imposes restrictions targeting financial institutions in third countries which are suspected of enabling Russia to circumvent sanctions prohibiting the export of critical technologies used to build weapons.
