Russia is threatened with EU sanctions on liquefied gas for the first time since the attack on Ukraine more than two years ago. This is evident from a draft of the sanctions, which is available to the AFP news agency. However, for many EU parliamentarians, the measures are far too lax.
There are no plans to stop the import of liquefied natural gas (LNG) into Europe. According to the draft, the EU initially wants to ban only two things: the reloading of Russian LNG in European ports, including onward shipping to Asia; and second, European investments in liquefied natural gas projects in Russia, for example in the city of Murmansk, north of the Arctic Circle.
According to an analysis of tanker routes by German non-governmental organization Urgewald in March, the EU remains the “central hub for Russia’s liquefied natural gas activities.” Russia ships its LNG to Asia mainly through ports in Belgium, France, Spain and Rotterdam in the Netherlands.
The European Parliament wants to go further
At least this is what the EU now wants to end. The European Parliament is also calling for a complete halt to LNG imports from Russia, according to a non-binding resolution from November. However, the member states are not yet prepared to do this, as evidenced by the sanctions proposal from EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell. Hungary in particular views “all sanctions in the energy sector as harmful,” a government statement said on Tuesday.
Last year, EU countries paid 8.1 billion euros for the supply of liquefied gas from Russia, according to a study by the IEEFA institute specialized in the energy sector. Brussels diplomats expect discussions to last several weeks on the new sanctions proposal, which requires unanimity among member states.
Russian contacts must be combated
According to this article, the EU also wants to ban all political parties, foundations or NGOs and media companies from accepting “financial assistance, donations or other economic benefits or assistance from the Russian state.” The background is allegations that Russia has bribed MEPs through the Czech portal ‘Voice of Europe’.
That is why, among others, the German AfD member of the Bundestag and European election candidate Petr Bystron was targeted. He denies the accusations. Preliminary investigations by the Dresden Public Prosecutor’s Office are underway against the AfD’s top candidate Maximilian Krah over possible financial payments from Russian and Chinese sources.
Source: Krone
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