A divisive approach to Russia’s energy trade has become more apparent in recent weeks. While some nations have discussed or announced bans on Russian oil and gas imports, others have doubled. When Russia launched an unprecedented attack on Ukraine earlier this year, Western nations joined forces to impose sanctions on the country in a bid to punish Russia for its actions. The sanctions range from blocking some Russian banks from accessing the SWIFT global banking system to the EU and other European countries banning Russian flights from their airspace. As the war continues, countries are imposing sanctions on Russia’s energy sector, which has the world’s largest gas reserves and is the third largest oil producer, accounting for about 12 percent of world oil production. See how some countries deal with Russian energy issues. Italy is mitigating its dependence on Russian gas by turning to countries such as Egypt and Algeria for energy supplies. Eni, the Italian oil and gas giant, recently signed a framework agreement with state-owned Egyptian Natural Gas Holding (EGAS), which said it would help maximize gas production and liquefied natural gas exports. According to Reuters, Italy supplies about 40% of its gas imports from Russia. It also agreed to increase gas imports from Algeria by about 40% in the midst of the war. This month, the Baltic states, which include Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, reduced their imports of Russian gas. “As of April 1, Russian gas is no longer flowing into Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania,” said Uldis Bariss, CEO of Conexus Baltic Grid, a Latvian gas storage operator, according to Al Jazeera. Lithuania became the first European country to abandon Russian energy supplies in the aftermath of the war in Ukraine. “If we can do it, so can the rest of Europe!” said on Twitter the president of the country, Gitanas Nauseda. Outside Europe, the United States has also banned imports of Russian oil and gas. President Joe Biden announced the “strong blow” against Russian President Vladimir Putin last month. “This is a step we are taking to inflict further pain on Putin, but there will be costs here in the United States as well,” Biden said. “I will do everything I can to minimize the rise in Putin’s prices here at home.” American consumers are feeling the effects of rising gas prices as a result of pandemic-era inflation, coupled with new sanctions on Russian energy supplies. In March, the average U.S. gas price jumped above $ 4 for the first time since 2008. The UK government has recently announced measures against Russian energy supply, pledging to end all imports of Russian coal and oil by the end of 2022. “By the end of 2022, the United Kingdom will end all dependence on Russian coal and oil and end gas imports as soon as possible,” the government said. He added that the United Kingdom would also ban the export of basic oil refining equipment and catalysts, “undermining Russia’s ability to produce and export oil”. Further sanctions include measures against Alexander Dyukov, CEO of Russia’s third-largest and most state-owned oil company Gazprom Neft. The country is facing escalating pressure to move away from Russian energy, although it has become heavily dependent on it, particularly the natural gas passing through the Nord Stream pipeline network. However, severing Russian ties could prove to be a long process. The cut-off of Russian gas from the German economy will significantly affect its manufacturing industry and could lead to coupling programs, Insider’s Ben Winck said. According to Bloomberg, German Chancellor Olaf Soltz said: “We are actively working to become independent of the need to import gas from Russia. This, as you can imagine, is not so easy because it needs infrastructure that must be built first.” In the midst of a wave of countries reducing Russia’s energy supply, India and China have taken a different approach. As the sweeping sanctions hit Russia’s oil exports, prices fell so much that some buyers from India and China were attracted to buy cheap Russian energy, Insider’s Huileng Tan said. Reuters reported that since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, India had bought at least 13 million barrels of Russian oil. However, it does not stop at cheap oil. Russian coal remains on India’s radar. Ramchandra Prasad Singh, an Indian politician and member of parliament, told a conference in New Delhi that India was “moving in the direction of importing coking coal from Russia,” according to Reuters. He added that India had imported 4.5 million tonnes of Russian coal, but did not say when. As for China, the country buys Russian oil and coal with its own currency. Smaller independent refineries in China also discreetly buy Russian oil, Reuters reported recently.