Brussels, 17 September 2025 (dpa/MIA) - European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has announced an initiative to achieve a faster halt to all European oil and gas imports from Russia following a conversation with US President Donald Trump.

"Russia's war economy, sustained by revenues from fossil fuels, is financing the bloodshed in Ukraine," she wrote on X on Tuesday.

"To put an end to it, the Commission will propose speeding up the phase-out of Russian fossil imports."

Von der Leyen said the Commission would soon present its 19th package of sanctions, targeting crypto, banks and energy. She said she had a "good call" with Trump and that the focus was on ways to increase economic pressure on Moscow through additional measures.

Von der Leyen gave no further details, but the EU's current plan from June foresees fully ending Russian gas imports only from 2028.

Russian supplies still accounted for around 19% of EU gas imports in 2024, according to the Commission. Oil imports are due to be phased out by the end of 2027, though 13 million tons of Russian crude still entered the European market last year.

Trump has recently tied further US sanctions on Russia to European partners imposing high tariffs on Chinese imports and halting purchases of Russian oil. Since his demand also included NATO ally Turkey, a major buyer of cheap Russian energy, it remains unclear whether an EU initiative alone would satisfy Washington.

EU members Hungary and Slovakia also continue to rely heavily on Russian crude, while the EU still imports Russian liquefied natural gas on a large scale.

Photo: dpa