MOSCOW, May 9. /TASS/. The issue of gas supplies to European countries is raised at the talks between Moscow and Washington, Russian Presidential Aide Yury Ushakov told reporters.
"We raise the issue [of gas supplies to Europe]," he said when asked a respective question.
In May 2022, the European Union launched the REPowerEU program to eliminate Europe’s reliance on Russian gas by 2027. Meanwhile, the cost of Russian LNG imports for the EU has nearly quadrupled in three years due to rising prices and increased supply volumes. Before 2022, the European Union purchased 40% of gas from Russia, by 2023 this share had decreased to around 15%, though in 2024 it started growing again, having reached almost 19%, which courted fierce criticism from Brussels. Reuters said earlier that the European Commission (EC) wanted to ban Russian gas and liquefied natural gas imports under existing contracts by the end of 2027.