US floats Russian gas sales to Europe via American intermediary; EU officials balk

The United States has put to Vladimir Putin a plan that would allow Russia to sell natural gas to Europe through an American intermediary, the Wall Street Journal reported, and European officials have firmly rejected the idea, at least in private.

According to the newspaper, as relayed by Meduza and Ukrainska Pravda, President Donald Trump’s envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff raised the proposal during visits to Moscow and Kyiv in September. The arrangement would let Russian gas reach European buyers without running into the sanctions in place against it. Russia would be asked to pay the revenue into an escrow account in a third country, so that the Kremlin could not spend it on the war.

What Washington hopes to gain

The WSJ’s sources said American negotiators believe a return to the European market would give Putin a strong reason to accept an energy truce in Ukraine. Kyiv would also earn transit fees, and US investors could find profitable openings. Ukrainska Pravda, summarising the same report, said Washington favours a quick restart of deliveries through pipelines crossing Ukraine, and that the question gained urgency after Ukraine resumed attacks on Russian oil refineries.

The envoys also tried to sell the plan to European leaders as a way of easing energy prices before winter, the WSJ said. Europe’s gas storage is at its lowest level for this time of year in several years. The Trump administration reportedly expects European resistance to be “less rigid than meets the eye.”

Europe’s answer

The EU’s public line is that it will not go back to buying Russian gas. In private, the WSJ reported, officials are blunter. A senior official from a Scandinavian country said resuming purchases would contradict everything Europeans stand for. A senior official from a large European country likened the plan to Neville Chamberlain’s sacrifice of Czechoslovakia in his dealings with Hitler.

EU law also stands in the way. Meduza noted that member states agreed in early 2026 to end Russian liquefied natural gas imports completely by 1 January 2027. Ukrainska Pravda, citing the WSJ, said current legislation requires all Russian gas purchases to stop by the end of 2027. Meduza added that Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak has said Russian companies will soon direct part of their LNG volumes away from Europe toward “friendly” countries.

A wider energy bargain

The gas proposal sits alongside other American ideas. Ukrainska Pravda, citing the WSJ, said Washington is now weighing a restart of Nord Stream as a possible piece of a broader settlement, covering not only the war but also long-running disputes between Russia and Europe. Reuters reported that senior Russian and American officials, including Kirill Dmitriev and Kushner, discussed bringing an American investor into the Nord Stream projects in early October. Such a deal would let the US profit from energy deliveries to Europe once the war ends, Reuters noted.

Earlier reports said the US had suggested that European countries release some frozen Russian sovereign assets into a financial vehicle controlled by Washington to revive peace talks. On 9 October, Trump said he had spoken with Putin and agreed on supplying Russian diesel to American and global markets.

What remains unclear

Neither outlet cites a formal reply from the Kremlin or from EU institutions. It is not clear whether Washington will press the proposal despite the European objections, or whether it will be folded into any wider negotiating package on Ukraine.