In Europe’s ongoing energy realignment, U.S. and Russian officials have reportedly discussed reviving Russian gas sales to the continent. The talks come as President Donald Trump pushes for a peace deal in Ukraine, raising the possibility of renewed energy ties between Moscow and the European Union.
Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, European countries sharply cut their imports of Russian gas, leading to a $7 billion loss for Russian energy giant Gazprom the following year.
Carving out a new role for Russia in the EU gas market is being floated as a potential incentive in peace negotiations. “Currently, there are no such discussions,” said Russia’s Direct Investment Fund in a statement. However, sources indicated that U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff and Putin’s investment envoy, Kirill Dmitriev, had engaged in preliminary talks on gas as part of broader discussions.
“If this level of engagement between Russia and the U.S. continues, it’s very likely that there will be a resumption of Russian gas flows … involving U.S. intermediaries,” said one source familiar with the talks.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov suggested that Gazprom could consider returning to the European market under new conditions. “There is a gas seller, there are potential buyers,” he said in an interview. Among current buyers are Hungary and Slovakia via the TurkStream pipeline, and countries like Belgium, France, the Netherlands, and Spain, which still receive LNG under long-term deals with Russia’s Novatek.
Despite these developments, the European Commission remains firm in its stance against returning to Russian energy. “Some are still saying that we should re-open the tap of Russian gas and oil. This would be a mistake of historic dimensions and we would never let it happen,” Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told the European Parliament on May 7th.
Brussels is preparing to propose a ban on new Russian gas deals by 2025 and imports under existing deals by 2027. Several countries, including Hungary in Slovakia have slammed the proposed ban, opposing raising energy prices because of ideological deals and not realistic ones.