Europe says it’s done with Russian gas. The Commission is locking in a legal ban. Politicians call it a strategic divorce. Yet every single day, Russian molecules still slip through — via pipelines, tankers, and political blind spots. In Part 2 of our Nord Stream 2 deep dive, we zoom out from courtrooms to continent-wide contracts:
• What does EU law really say?
• Which countries are still buying Russian gas — and how?
• Could a clever workaround revive flows via Nord Stream 2 or its ghostly cousins?
Let’s walk the legal tightrope and trace the gas trail.
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[C] EU Legal & Political Outlook
Europe’s political establishment has spent the past three years in a dramatic U-turn on Russian gas policy. Nord Stream 2 went from being a “controversial but tolerable” project to essentially a toxic asset banned by political decree. So, what is the current EU legal framework regarding Russian gas, especially looking to 2025 and 2027? And could any clever workaround (like U.S.-mediated flows) bypass those rules? Let’s break it down.
EU’s Legal Commitments to Ban Russian Gas by 2025/2027: The European Union is formalizing what has de facto been happening – phasing out Russian gas imports entirely. In early May 2025, the European Commission announced it will propose binding legal measures to halt all Russian gas (pipeline and LNG) imports by the end of 2027. This is an evolution of the REPowerEU strategy set in 2022, which aimed to eliminate Russian fossil fuels by 2027. Now it’s being codified into law. The plan has two key milestones:
By end of 2025, ban Russian gas under any new contracts or spot deals. In plain English, EU companies would be legally barred from buying Russian gas on the spot market or signing fresh long-term contracts that start delivery after 2025. If you want a cargo of LNG from Russia or an extra piped batch outside of an old contract, 2025 is the cutoff.
By end of 2027, terminate Russian gas imports under existing long-term contracts. Many European utilities still have long-term contracts with Gazprom set to run into the 2030s (for example, Hungary to 2036, Italy to 2036, Slovakia to 2028, etc.). The EU is essentially saying these must end by 2027 at...
