US democratic lawmakers have argued that Trump administration has refrained from putting direct sanctions on Russian energy entities in his second term as it is allowing China to buy shipments of Russian LNG which “helps support the war on Ukraine”.

 

Russia's Arctic LNG 2 project started in late 2023 but is behind schedule because of shortages of carriers and US-EU sanctions and it had to halt operations last October.
However, since August the project has loaded about six LNG cargoes, discharging four at Chinese state-run Binhai LNG import terminal in Jiangsu.

 

The 19.8 MMT/Y Arctic LNG 2 project’s term LNG buyers are TotalEnergies, CNOOC, CNPC, Japan Arctic LNG, Shenergy, Zhejiang Energy and ENN, according to the Global LNG Contracts Database.

 

Reuters has cited Elizabeth Warren and other democratic senators as saying that “the failure to enforce even existing sanctions against Russia and apparent willingness to give China a free pass to buy Russian energy fundamentally undercuts efforts to bring about an end to the war and to impact the Kremlin’s calculus in negotiations.”

 

Concurrently, EU confirmed that it plans to ban Russian LNG imports into the union a year earlier than envisaged as part of a 19th package of sanctions against Moscow, a change apparently prompted by pressure from President Trump.

 

The proposal risks compelling EU countries to cover any shortfalls in LNG supplies through purchases from the United States, increasing their energy dependency on the U.S. in an era when Washington is using trade tariffs as a policy tool, Reuters has reminded in a report, adding that Trump has repeatedly urged the bloc to end its Russian energy purchases faster before he does anything further to pressure Moscow.

 

Russia's share in EU imports of LNG decreased to 14% in the second quarter of 2025 from 22% in the first quarter of 2021, according to Eurostat.

 

 

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