The European Union is moving closer to banning all imports of Russian oil and natural gas more than three years after Moscow launched its unprovoked, full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

The European Commission on Tuesday proposed legally-binding measures to cut off the European Union's imports of Russian gas and liquefied natural gas imports by the end of 2027, which would end decades-old energy relations with Europe's former top gas supplier.

The European Commission aims to completely halt the import of Russian gas into the European Union by the end of 2027 and plans to present a proposal describing how to do that on Tuesday. This could involve using EU trade law as an import ban through sanctions is considered unlikely to succeed because it would require a unanimous decision by EU member states.