Reuters reported the information after reviewing the relevant documents.The European Union countries and lawmakers are preparing for negotiations on the EU’s plan to ban imports of Russian gas. Their starting point will be a legislative proposal presented by the European Commission last month, which envisions a complete halt to Russian gas imports by January 1, 2028.At the same time, leading European Parliament lawmakers responsible for preparing the position on the Russian gas ban have proposed moving this deadline forward by one year—to January 1, 2027. This is evidenced by documents containing their amendments to the Commission’s proposal.The proposals were submitted by EU lawmakers Inese Vaidere from the center-right European People’s Party (the largest legislative group in Parliament) and Ville Niinistö from the Greens.According to diplomats, it is unlikely that the governments of member states will agree to move the ban forward by a year. However, MEPs may use this demand as a bargaining chip to secure other changes during negotiations. For example, Vaidere also proposes obliging governments to impose sanctions on companies that violate the ban, including by revoking licenses to trade in energy resources. Niinistö, for his part, calls for a complete ban on imports of Russian oil from January 1, 2027.In June, the Financial Times reported that since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the EU has paid Moscow over €200 billion for fuel. Europe is now working towards a complete halt of Russian coal and oil imports.