The European Union should be open to resuming Russian natural gas imports if a peace deal is reached between Russia and Ukraine, an Austrian official said, as Brussels readies a proposal to ban Russian imports.

The EU must be open to resuming Russian gas imports in the event of a peace deal being brokered to end the war in Ukraine, Austria has said, despite a newly proposed EU-wide ban on Russia’s fossil fuel. Brussels “must maintain the option to reassess the situation once the war has ended”, the Austrian energy ministry told the Financial Times.