Moscow — The Russian government will meet soon to discuss stopping gas exports to Europe, Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said on Thursday.
President Vladimir Putin had said a day earlier that Russia could halt supplies immediately amid a spike in energy prices triggered by the Iran crisis. Putin linked the possible decision — which he said had not been taken yet — to the EU’s desire to ban purchases of Russian gas and liquefied natural gas (LNG).
“We will meet soon, as instructed by the president, to discuss the current situation with energy companies and possible transport routes for our energy supplies,” Novak said.
“We will discuss this with our energy companies soon and see how to deploy Russian resources most profitably.”
Russian gas sales to Europe have fallen sharply since 2022 because of sanctions related to the war in Ukraine.
However, it is the second-largest supplier of LNG to the EU, and also sells gas via the Black Sea TurkStream pipeline to countries including Hungary, Slovakia and Serbia.
Novak said Russian gas accounted for more than 12% of European supply.
Energy revenue falls
Meanwhile, Russian state oil and gas revenues fell 44% in February to 432.3-billion roubles (about $5.51bn) from the same month a year ago, according to finance ministry data, as a result of lower oil prices and a stronger rouble. Still, that was 10% more than in January.
Oil and gas revenues are crucial for Russia’s state budget, which ran a deficit of 5.6-trillion roubles or 2.6% of GDP in 2025. The revenue accounts for about a quarter of total budget proceeds.
For the first two months of the year, the revenue dropped 47% year on year to 825.6-billion roubles, accordng to the finance ministry data.
The Russian oil price is sold at a discount, mainly because of sanctions over the war in Ukraine, including a price cap, which the EU lowered to $44.10 a barrel from February 1 to constrain Russia’s oil revenue.
State coffers have been drained by heavy defence and security spending since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022.
The budget forecasts income of 8.92-trillion roubles from oil and gas sales this year, while the pace of proceeds is now behind target.
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