United for Ukraine urges Spain to stop gas
- Lawmakers from the United for Ukraine network used a May 7 Madrid visit to press Spain for more military aid, more money, and no Russian gas. - The sharpest demand was energy: stop buying Russian LNG, which campaigners say still sends Kremlin revenue even as Europe prepares a ban. - The pressure lands as Spain debates defense spending and the EU moves to phase out Russian gas by 2027.
A group of pro-Ukraine lawmakers came to Madrid this week with a very specific message for Spain: backing Kyiv is not just about speeches, and it is not just about weapons. It is also about energy. At a press event in Madrid on May 7, members of the United for Ukraine parliamentary network urged Spain to raise military and economic support for Ukraine and to stop buying Russian gas. (eldiariodemadrid.es) ### Who showed up in Madrid? This was not a random advocacy stop. The delegation came from Ukraine, Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland — basically the countries that feel Russia’s threat most directly and have spent the last three years arguing(eldiariodemadrid.es), with a parliamentary arm spanning more than 30 countries. (abc.com.py) ### Why target Spain? Because Spain sits in an awkward spot. Madrid is firmly inside the pro-Ukraine camp, but critics say its support still looks cautious when measured per person or against the urgency frontline states talk about. The visiting lawma(abc.com.py) harder and more measurable. (eldiariodemadrid.es) ### Why does gas matter so much? Because every cargo of Russian LNG still means money flowing back to the Russian state while Europe is financing Ukraine’s defense on the other side of the ledger. That is the contradiction the delegation wanted to highlight(eldiariodemadrid.es 1)(eldiariodemadrid.es 2) ### Is Spain still buying much Russian gas? Less than before, but yes — that is the catch. Spain’s Russian LNG imports dropped sharply in 2025, falling to 42,629 GWh, down 41.1% from 2024, and down to 11.4% of Spain’s imported LNG mix. But Spain still remai(eldiariodemadrid.es)e trend is better, but the political vulnerability is still there. (russpain.com) ### Isn’t Europe already phasing Russian gas out? Basically, yes. The bigger backdrop here is that the EU has already moved toward a permanent shutdown of Russian gas imports, with LNG imports set to end by December 31, 2026 and pipeline gas by September 30, 2027, with a narrow storage-relate(russpain.com)— they were asking it to get there faster and more cleanly. (ec.europa.eu) ### Why push this now? Because the politics are shifting. Frontline countries think the war has entered a phase where hesitation in richer Western European capitals matters more than ever — on shells, on air defense, on budgets, and on energy trade. Spain is also in the middle of a broader debate about defense commitments, which makes Madrid a useful place to force the argument in public. (eldiariodemadrid.es) ### Does stopping Russian gas solve the bigger problem? No — but it removes one of the clearest hypocrisies. Spain can still support Ukraine while buying some Russian LNG, and that has been the practical reality. But the delegation’s point was that this kin(eldiariodemadrid.es) (ec.europa.eu) ### Bottom line What happened in Madrid was small in form but sharp in substance. A coalition of lawmakers from countries closest to the war came to Spain and said, in public, that real alignment with Ukraine now means three expensive things at once — more arms, more money, and no Russian gas. (eldiariodemadrid.es)
