Gov't approves bill that would block imports of Russian coal

"We don't want these imports to be possible any longer, although we realise that there's a risk related to the fact that the European Union has not approved such actions to date," Piotr Muller told reporters in Warsaw.

Sanctions in the EU as a rule have to be agreed by the whole trading bloc, and Brussels could potentially punish countries acting unilaterally.

Since the start of the Russian invasion in Ukraine, Warsaw has been calling on the European Union to include Russian fossil fuels in sanctions the bloc imposed on Moscow.

The EU has opted for a strategy to gradually reduce dependence on Russian gas, while Germany last week announced it would stop buying Russian oil at the end of this year and cut out Russian gas supplies in 2024.

Russia dominates Polish coal imports, accounting for about 20% of domestic use. Some 9.4 million tons of Russian coal was imported to Poland in 2020 and used mostly to heat individual households. The nation also imports some 50% of its gas and over 60% of the oil it refines from Russia.

Muller said Premier Mateusz Morawiecki would announce detailed plans to eliminate Russian energy supplies later this week.