European Commission president calls for stopping Russian energy imports

BRUSSELS. May 7 (Interfax) - Ending Russian energy imports would meet the European Union's fundamental security interests, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said.

"We see since the beginning of last year that energy imports from Russia have slightly bounced back. So, we need a final push to phase out Russian fossil fuels, and this is the goal of the yesterday's roadmap that we presented," von der Leyen said at a session of the European Parliament in Strasbourg on Wednesday.

The roadmap of Russian energy removal from the European market presented on Tuesday includes a ban on new contracts with Russia and imports from the spot market no later than in the end of 2025, she said.

"We will work to ban all remaining imports of Russian gas, both pipeline and LNG, by no later than the end of 2027. We will also tighten control of Russia's shadow fleet. To be very clear, the era of Russian fossil fuels in Europe is coming to an end," von der Leyen said.

"Some still think that we should reopen the tap of Russian gas and oil. This would be a mistake of historic dimensions and we would never let it happen," she said.

"Dependency on Russia is bad not only for our security but also for our economy," von der Leyen said.

The European Commission presented a roadmap for ending Russian energy imports by the EU on May 6.