Ukrainian Groups Demand UK End Energy Contracts Tied to Russian Gas

Ukrainian campaigners are calling on the new UK government under Prime Minister Keir Starmer to terminate all procurement contracts with energy suppliers linked to Russian fossil fuels, warning that continued dealings with such companies undermine the West’s sanctions regime against the Kremlin, The Gaze reports, citing Politico.

The appeal was made Wednesday in a letter to Cabinet Office Minister Nick Thomas-Symonds, following a report that revealed many Whitehall buildings — including No. 10 Downing Street — are supplied with gas by TotalEnergies Gas & Power, the UK arm of French energy giant TotalEnergies. The parent company still imports Russian liquefied natural gas (LNG) into continental Europe from the Yamal project in Siberia.

The UK government’s contract with the firm, worth up to £8 billion, “undermines the U.K.’s public commitment to ending dependence on Putin’s bloody oil and gas,” the letter stated.

“It sets an example which profiteering companies have been only too happy to follow,” campaigners wrote. “This in turn has undermined the entire Western sanctions regime.”

The letter, coordinated by Ukrainian civil society group Razom We Stand, is backed by seven Ukraine-based or pro-Ukrainian organizations. It urges the UK to disclose all contracts with TotalEnergies, commit to halting procurement from any supplier tied to Russian fossil fuels, and set out a concrete plan to transition government departments to “clean, conflict-free energy sources.”

Iryna Ptashnyk, a senior researcher at Razom We Stand, said it was “indefensible” that British taxpayers’ money is flowing to TotalEnergies. “The U.K. government must urgently show leadership [and] end these contracts,” she said.

Despite the criticism, a government spokesperson maintained that “all government contracts are openly published online, and follow all U.K. sanctions and regulations,” adding that gas is sourced from the UK’s domestic market, “where the presence of Russian gas is extremely unlikely.”

TotalEnergies has said it does not import Russian LNG directly into the UK and only continues supplying Russian gas to Europe under pre-war long-term contracts that it is unable to terminate.

Still, critics argue that allowing any public sector procurement from firms tied to Russian fossil fuel infrastructure weakens the UK’s hard-line stance. TotalEnergies Gas & Power is a major gas supplier to NHS hospitals, local council buildings, schools, and financial institutions including the Bank of England.

Stephen Hoffman, deputy director of UK Friends of Ukraine, said British government buildings “should not be heated with gas that comes from a company with such deep ties to Russia’s fossil fuel industry.”

In a statement, the UK government reiterated: “We are making the U.K. a clean energy superpower to get off the roller coaster of fossil fuel markets controlled by dictators like Putin, replacing that with clean homegrown power we control, and have ended all imports of Russian fossil fuels in response to Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine.”

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