The EU is taking action to end Russian energy imports and reduce its energy dependency, while maintaining stable energy supplies and prices across Europe.

The REPowerEU plan and roadmap
The REPowerEU plan and roadmap set out the EU’s goal to increase its energy independence and the actions needed to reach this goal.

Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine and its systematic weaponisation of energy have demonstrated that the EU’s overdependency on Russian fossil fuels brings with it serious security and economic risks.

In the Versailles Declaration of 11 March 2022, EU leaders therefore agreed to phase out the EU’s dependency on Russian gas, oil and coal as soon as possible and become more energy independent.

To achieve this, the EU presented the REPowerEU plan in May 2022. The EU subsequently took measures to reduce gas demand, store more gas, boost investments in renewables, accelerate permitting procedures for renewables and facilitate joint gas purchasing.

Although these actions led to a significant reduction in energy imports from Russia, there is still work to be done to achieve a full phase-out and Russia continues to rely on revenues from its energy sector to fund its war of aggression against Ukraine. That is why the Commission presented the REPowerEU roadmap in May 2025, as a follow up to the 2022 plan, with new actions to put a complete stop to the remaining imports of Russian gas and oil.

Gas storage tanks, a wind turbine, a hydrogen storage tank, an electricity transmission tower, and a gas pipeline, all interconnected.
What is the REPowerEU plan?

How much energy is the EU still importing from Russia?
Thanks to the REPowerEU measures and the EU sanctions, the EU diversified energy imports away from Russia. The share of Russian gas, oil and coal in the EU’s energy imports dropped significantly between 2021 and 2025 but Russian gas and oil have not been completely phased out yet.

Key actions of the roadmap

The REPowerEU roadmap contains several proposals with the aim of phasing out Russian energy imports. The proposed measures are about:
• Russian gas
• Russian oil and nuclear energy
• strengthening the EU’s energy supply

The first key action is a regulation to prohibit imports of Russian gas. This law complements the sanctions that the EU has already imposed on Russian energy imports. While sanctions are meant as temporary measures which need to be renewed every six months, a regulation is a more permanent measure. New transparency and monitoring rules should help make sure this prohibition is implemented effectively.

The roadmap also addresses Russian oil and nuclear energy. The Commission indicated that it would submit a legislative proposal at the beginning of 2026 to prohibit imports of Russian oil as soon as possible and by the end of 2027 at the latest. The EU will also continue to take action against Russia’s shadow fleets, which are helping Russia to circumvent the sanctions on oil.

As for nuclear power, the aim would be to replace Russian nuclear fuel, the last remaining Russian energy source still imported to the EU, with fuel from European sources where possible.

In addition, the roadmap outlines several streams of action to strengthen the EU’s energy supply:
• helping member states to combine their energy demands and buy energy together
• ensuring better use of infrastructure by removing regulatory and market barriers
• working to strengthen EU production of medical radioisotopes needed for cancer treatment

Regulation to prohibit imports of Russian gas
The regulation on phasing out Russian gas imports is the first legislative act under the roadmap. It has five main components.

The Commission submitted its proposal on 17 June 2025. The Council and the European Parliament reached an agreement on the text on 3 December 2025 and the regulation was adopted on 26 January 2026.

Prohibition on natural gas imports
The import of Russian LNG and pipeline gas will be prohibited from early 2026, six weeks after entry into force of the regulation. To prevent supply interruptions, there will be transition periods for existing contracts:

• for short-term contracts the prohibition will apply from 25 April 2026 for LNG and 17 June 2026 for pipeline gas
• for long-term contracts the prohibition will apply from 1 January 2027 for LNG, in line with the EU sanctions against Russia, and from 30 September 2027 for pipeline gas (or 1 November 2027 if storage targets were not met for the winter)

Prior authorisation: monitoring and traceability
Gas is traded in large volumes and is often resold multiple times between traders. To monitor where the gas that is being imported into the EU is coming from, importers of natural gas will have to obtain prior authorisation. They will need to submit proof that the gas is being imported under an existing contract with a transition period or that the gas was not produced in Russia.

Only imports from countries that fulfil certain criteria will not require prior authorisation. This list includes major gas-producing countries that were already exporting to the EU in 2024 and that prohibit or restrict Russian gas imports or have no infrastructure in their country for importing gas.

The Commission will update the list of exempted countries based on information from customs and authorising authorities and can remove countries from the list if they are used to circumvent the prohibition.

Penalties
The member states must set effective, proportionate and dissuasive penalties for non-compliance with the rules.

The maximum penalty for companies should be at least 3.5% of their total worldwide annual turnover, €40 million or 300% of the estimated transaction turnover. For private individuals, the maximum fine should not be lower than €2.5 million. The member states will have two years to implement these penalties in their national law.

National diversification plans
By 1 March 2026, the member states must submit national diversification plans in which they outline how they will diversify away from Russian gas. The plans must include information on volumes of Russian gas imported under existing contracts and on which measures the member states are planning or have already implemented to diversify their gas supply. They must also indicate which barriers they are facing in this process and identify solutions to overcome these barriers.

Member states that are still importing Russian oil also have to submit a plan on how they will diversify their oil supply by the end of 2027. Imports of oil are already prohibited under the EU sanctions against Russia, but certain landlocked countries are partly exempt from this ban for now because they require additional time to reduce their reliance on Russian oil.
The infographic provides recent data about the EU’s gas supply.

Where does the EU’s gas come from?
Emergency temporary suspension
The Commission will monitor the situation on the EU’s energy market, in particular potential gas supply dependencies or other energy supply risks. If there are sudden and significant developments that seriously threaten the security of energy supply in one or more member states, the Commission can temporarily lift the import prohibition for short-term contracts for up to four weeks. This is only possible if it is strictly necessary, however, and if a member state has declared a state of emergency.
Source: European Council