U.S. and Russian officials are quietly exploring pathways to restore Russian natural gas flows to Europe—an initiative that, if realized, would mark a seismic shift in post-Ukraine war energy dynamics, according to an exclusive report by Reuters on Thursday.
The talks, still in preliminary stages, are reportedly linked to ongoing peace negotiations and could involve U.S.-backed intermediary arrangements to facilitate pipeline transit through Ukraine or even Nord Stream infrastructure, Reuters reported.
Europe’s Russian gas dependency collapsed from 40% to just 19% after the 2022 invasion, slashing Gazprom’s export volumes and forcing Europe into LNG deals at premium prices.
Yet now, with gas prices stabilizing and European voters balking at inflation, energy pragmatism may be edging out geopolitics.
The exclusive Reuters report comes just two days after the European Commission published a roadmap of its plans to end European dependency on Russian gas, which would ban imports of all Russian gas and LNG to EU member states by the end of 2027. Legislative proposals related to this ban will be tabled in June.
«No more will we permit Russia to weaponise energy against us… No more will we indirectly help fill up the [Kremlin’s] war chests,» European Commissioner for Energy Dan Jorgensen said in a news conference in Strasbourg on Tuesday, as reported by the BBC.
That roadmap and subsequent statements prompted Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov to respond to Reuters on Tuesday, saying the move would represent Europe “shooting itself in the foot”.
There has been a fair amount of skepticism as to how effectively Europe could cut off Russian gas entirely. In April, the EU was reported to be considering declaring a force majeure to negate natural gas supply contracts with Russian Gazprom, without huge penalties. However, this could prove legally challenging due to the fact that this move was not taken three years ago, when Russia first invaded Ukraine.
At the same time, Ukraine has ratified a strategic minerals deal with the U.S., giving American firms priority access to lithium, titanium, and rare earths—crucial inputs for defense and green tech. The deal includes a reconstruction fund, tying resource extraction to long-term rebuilding and Western alignment.
From a market perspective, this is classic high-stakes chess where energy, capital, and geopolitics collide. The possibility of Russian gas reentering Europe would ripple through global LNG pricing and threaten U.S. export competitiveness.
Meanwhile, the minerals pact gives U.S. investors a long-term stake in one of the few growth narratives still standing in Eastern Europe.
These are not isolated headlines—they’re signals of a shifting energy order, which will require investors to pay close attention to where the flows start to move again, and where the capital will follow.