EU diplomats rule out resuming Russian gas purchases amid Ukraine peace talks
European Union diplomats have made clear there are no plans to resume buying Russian gas, even as US and European negotiators discuss a potential peace deal for Ukraine. One EU diplomat told EUobserver that “as a principle, the EU is sticking to abandoning fossil-fuel dependency on Russia.” Another stressed that there is no rationale to ease sanctions in any sector, given Russia’s “barbaric and cynical attacks on Ukrainian civilians and civilian infrastructure.”
A third diplomat, who attended debriefings on talks with the US, said buying Russian gas was not mentioned. The remarks come after a third meeting in Brussels on Wednesday and Thursday involving national security advisers from France, Germany, the UK, and the US, along with senior officials from the European Commission, NATO, and the World Bank. The E3 group is expected to lead any post-war peacekeeping force.
The Ukrainian delegation was headed by foreign intelligence chief Rustem Umerov and included officials from several ministries and President Zelensky’s office. Umerov said on X that representatives from BlackRock, the US asset-management firm, also attended. Prior talks in the same format were held in Miami on 9 October and Oslo on 20 October.
