US envoys propose Europe resume buying Russian gas as part of Ukraine peace plan, NYT reports

US President Donald Trump’s envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner have raised the idea of Europe resuming purchases of Russian gas as part of a plan to end the war in Ukraine, The New York Times reported on Saturday 17 October.

According to the report, the envoys suggested in talks with Ukrainian and European officials, including President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv last month, that Ukraine consider restarting pipelines that used to carry Russian gas to Europe. The Times said European officials “recoiled” at the idea.

In a statement to the newspaper, the White House said the US was working with Ukraine and European partners on “a comprehensive peace proposal that includes economic incentives for both Russia and Ukraine as part of a final settlement”. It said the Nord Stream pipeline had not been “a subject of recent discussions” and that any arrangement involving it would require close coordination with European partners.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the Times that resuming energy cooperation “is in our interest” but “may even more be in the interest of the Europeans themselves”.

Günter Sautter, security adviser to German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, strongly opposed the idea at talks in Florida last week, the newspaper reported.

The EU has pledged to end all Russian gas imports by next year. Russia supplied 13% of the EU’s gas imports last year, down from 45% in 2021, according to the Times. Ukraine stopped carrying Russian gas to Europe in January 2025.