The European Commission has announced plans to phase out all Russian fossil fuel imports, including gas and liquefied natural gas (LNG), by the end of 2027, irrespective of developments in the Russia-Ukraine war.

The European Commission on Tuesday proposed legally-binding measures to cut off the European Union's imports of Russian gas and liquefied natural gas imports by the end of 2027, which would end decades-old energy relations with Europe's former top gas supplier.

After Russia invaded Ukraine, the EU stopped buying Russian oil and coal, but it was harder to give up gas. Before the war, Putin had gotten Germany and other EU countries hooked on the gas needle, and a year before the attack on Ukraine, he launched a gas war against Europe, triggering an energy crisis.