NGOs call for Russian oil and gas embargo

Twenty-five European NGOs have urged the EU to impose an embargo on the import of Russian oil and gas in order to cut Moscow off from financing for its war in Ukraine.

In a public appeal released on March 3, the NGOs also called for the country of origin for oil products to be stated at filling stations so that consumers know if it was produced in Russia. Until a full embargo on fossil fuels is introduced, the EU should impose a tariff or levy on Russian oil and gas imports.

"We need urgent action to cripple the Putin regime's ability to fund the war," Heorhiy Veremiychyk of the National Ecological Centre of Ukraine, said in a statement. "Russia continues to receive payments from European governments that inadvertently fund Russia's assault on Ukraine. That must end."

The NGOs also proposed measures to reduce the bloc's oil consumption, including measures to reduce vehicle transport and expand the use of electric vehicles. It also called for more wind and solar power plants to be built.

Several EU states have said they will expand their LNG import capacity in order to reduce reliance on Russian gas, including Germany, which has halted the certification process for Russia's Nord Stream 2 pipeline and has proposed building two regasification plants. But the NGOs said this was not the answer.

They also urged the EU not to back the European Commission's proposal to label gas as a sustainable investment in its taxonomy, and called for no food and feed crops to be used for biofuel production, because of the war's impact on agriculture in Russia and Ukraine.