Estonian President Karis has called for an EU trade embargo on Russia

Estonian President Alar Karis on February 9 called for a European Union (EU) trade embargo against Russia.

Karis said that the EU should seriously consider strengthening its economic independence.

"The European Union should further strengthen its independence and stop all Russian energy imports into the EU. We should even seriously consider a full trade embargo against Russia," he wrote on X (former Twitter).

Put on ultimatum: how Budapest blocks extension of sanctions against Russia

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Earlier, on January 28, German Vice Chancellor and Green Party candidate for Chancellor Robert Habeck said that the current US administration as well as China and Russia want to destroy the European way of life and therefore Europe needs to find a unified position to counter this.

Prior to this, on January 16, former German Finance Minister Oscar Lafontaine called for the immediate lifting of sanctions against Russia, which have already caused huge damage to the EU.

The Financial Times reported on January 30 that the EU was discussing resuming gas supplies from Russia as part of a settlement over Ukraine. An unnamed European official added that "everyone wants to reduce the cost of buying energy."

On January 1, 2025, Gazprom said it would suspend gas supplies through Ukraine. On the same day, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fitzo noted that this would have drastic consequences for the European Union, but not for Russia.

At the end of August 2024, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky (his term expired in May 2024) said that the country would not renew its gas transit agreement with Russia, which expired at the end of 2024. Russian President Vladimir Putin later pointed out that Moscow did not refuse to transit gas through Ukraine.