EU energy ministers on Monday backed a plan to phase out Russian oil and gas imports by January 2028, according to the Council of the European Union. The proposal, approved at a meeting in Luxembourg, would ban new Russian gas contracts from January 2026, end short-term ones by June 2026, and terminate long-term deals by 2028. The law still requires negotiations with the European Parliament before becoming final. The move aims to cut Moscow’s energy revenues that help fund its war in Ukraine. Russia now supplies about 12% of the EU’s gas, down from 45% before the 2022 invasion, with Hungary, France, and Belgium still importing. The proposal was crafted to win approval despite resistance from Hungary and Slovakia and required a “qualified majority” vote so that one or two states could not block it. Flexibilities were included for landlocked countries. Separately, the EU is preparing a new sanctions package that could ban Russian LNG imports a year earlier, by January 2027.