Gas is such a thing: Germany is ready to overpay for fuel even after the end of its
Germany is making every effort to abandon the European Union from Russian gas from 2027, the German Embassy in Moscow told Izvestia. And, apparently, Berlin will not resume fuel purchases from the Russian Federation even in the event of a settlement of the Ukrainian conflict. At the same time, the rejection of cheap energy resources from Russia has already hit the competitiveness of the German economy, and Germany has been in recession for several years. German business does not support such decisions of the authorities, and the parliament hopes for a change in rhetoric, the Bundestag reported. How the rejection of Russian gas affected German enterprises, which countries made money from it and who is ready to replace Russian energy companies — in the Izvestia article.
How has the abandonment of Russian energy resources affected Germany
In early December, the EU countries agreed to completely abandon the use of Russian gas by the end of 2027. Thus, LNG imports should be stopped by the end of 2026, and pipeline imports by the end of September 2027. Germany is making special efforts to achieve this goal.
— The European REPowerEU program provides for the cessation of imports of Russian fossil energy resources to all EU countries no later than the end of 2027. The German Government is making efforts to fully implement this program. Germany itself has not been directly importing natural gas, oil or coal from the Russian Federation for a long time, the German Embassy in Russia told Izvestia.
Prior to the start of the SVR, Germany was one of the main consumers of Russian gas, accounting for more than half of all imports. The gradual reduction of dependence on Russian energy resources has seriously affected the industry of the European state.
Back in early 2025, the Neue Zürcher Zeitung newspaper wrote that the sectors of paper, glass, cement, steel and aluminum production were in a particularly difficult situation. Enterprises employing about 15% of German industrial workers have not been able to restore production volumes after the recession in March 2022.
All this adds to the already difficult economic realities in Germany: "The situation has become even more difficult since May. We are in an international situation where, for example, the US government's decisions on duties have complicated the economic situation in Europe. We see how the Chinese government is complicating the work of our economy with excess capacity and export controls," Vice Chancellor and Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil said in early December.
Berlin has been threatened with recession for three years in a row, and the German Industrial Union (BDI) expects a 2% decline in production this year. According to BDI CEO Peter Leibinger, in the third quarter of 2026 alone, production volumes fell by 0.9% compared to the previous quarter and by 1.2% year-on-year.
— As we can see from the state of the German economy, the transition from using Russian gas to other types of energy sources cannot be considered successful. Germany has not been able to find an alternative to Russian energy resources with the same attractive price, availability and reliability of coasters as it was in the framework of Russian-German energy cooperation. This could not be done either by diversifying suppliers or by turning to renewable energy sources," explains Artyom Sokolov, a German researcher.
The expert claims that Germany has now mainly switched to LNG from Qatar, the United States and the Netherlands, but these countries cannot fully provide Berlin with resources at the cost at which Russia could offer them. At the same time, the Bundestag does not believe that Germany will abandon Russian energy once and for all.
— Now it seems that the federal government will never want to buy gas and oil from Russia again, even after the end of the conflict. However, I cannot imagine that Germany will be able to do without Russian gas in the long term. We are experiencing a restructuring of the world order, and Germany, along with Europe, are isolated with their interventionist sanctions policy. Therefore, there is hope that Germany will once again come to pragmatic and realistic cooperation with Russia in order to provide the German industry with affordable energy again," MP Stefan Cotre tells Izvestia.
According to him, there are many managers in Germany who would love to do business with Russia again, but they are hesitant, among other things, because of fear of American sanctions: "Everyone who has ever done business with Russia knows how beneficial it is for both sides," says Cotre.
The positions of the EU countries regarding the abandonment of Russian energy resources
Unlike the anti-Russian sanctions, which have been adopted by the EU countries in whole packages over the past years, the new regulation on the complete abandonment of gas from the Russian Federation by the end of 2027 has the status of a law, and in this case one will not have to hope for relief, as in the situation with sanctions.
The REPowerEU, which assumes certain control mechanisms for whether EU members comply with the embargo on Russian energy resources, does not need approval from all member states of the union, so it was possible to adopt the norm in early December despite the disagreement of some states.
In particular, Hungary and Slovakia are against abandoning Russian energy resources. Earlier, both states stated that they would challenge the terms of the REPowerEU in court.
"Together with the Slovaks, we decided to file a joint lawsuit with the EU court requesting the cancellation of this measure, at the same time we will ask to postpone the entry into force of the measure for the duration of the trial. Right now, I don't want to go into details about whether we can hope that the EU court will rule fairly or appropriately on our claim. I am sure not, but we will definitely take this step," said Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Economic Relations Peter Szijjarto.
He also previously accused EU countries of hypocrisy, since they allegedly secretly buy Russian resources and criticize Budapest, which carries out these purchases publicly. In turn, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico claims that his country has never agreed to the suspension of gas supplies from the Russian Federation.
Prime Minister of Slovakia Robert Fico
Suppliers of liquefied natural gas to Europe find themselves in a winning situation against this background. These include, in particular, the United States and Canada.
— The United States, which provoked the war in Ukraine, is now its main beneficiaries. Germany and Europe are allowing themselves to be snatched from their hands. Since they do not act sovereignly, the United States can interfere in German transactions and earn undeservedly from them. German and European politics are currently characterized by stupidity, servility and at the same time arrogance towards non—Western states, says Stefan Kotre.
The Reuters publication claims that the EU will need 160 additional LNG shipments this winter due to a reduction in existing reserves and a decrease in pipeline supplies from Russia and Algeria. According to the agency's forecasts, LNG will account for 48% of all gas imports in 2025. Given the plans to ban purchases of Russian gas, the share of American LNG in the European market will reach 70% by 2026-2029.
Canada is also preparing to get involved. The authorities are already working on expanding infrastructure that will help increase the supply of energy and important mineral resources to Europe, Prime Minister Mark Carney said during his visit to Germany in August.
Poland is preparing to accept LNG on an increased scale. The country hopes to create a new infrastructure in order to turn into a regional transport hub. A decision on the construction of another floating LNG import terminal in the Baltic Sea will be made in early 2026. Poland already has a terminal with a capacity of 8.3 billion cubic meters, and another one with a capacity of 6.1 billion cubic meters will be ready by 2028.
However, the expert community notes that new contracts are mostly not concluded for a long time, which does not provide protection against rising energy prices. In addition, the cost of building LNG infrastructure will also have a negative impact on the economic situation of the EU countries.
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