The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Committee on Energy and Housing and Public Utilities appealed to the parliaments of all foreign states, the European Parliament and international parliamentary assemblies with a request to impose trade restrictions in the energy sector against the Russian Federation in connection with its military aggression against Ukraine, Chairman of the committee Andriy Gerus has said.

"We are asking you to introduce an absolute trade embargo on Russian oil and gas. This will become an effective and tough measure to isolate the Russian economy, cutting it off from the main source of filling the budget," the committee said in a statement posted on the Telegram channel of Gerus on Friday.

The committee said that the Russian budget is heavily dependent on the hydrocarbon sector, as almost 40% of Russia's income comes from oil and gas exports, and energy exports in 2021 accounted for 54.3% of total merchandise exports from Russia.

"Using blackmail, Russian President Putin has led European markets into an unprecedented energy crisis. Russian gas giant Gazprom doubled its revenues in 2021 to $55.5 billion. However, natural gas futures on the wholesale market in Europe are valued at more than in EUR 90 per MWh – five times more than in the first half of 2020," the committee said.

Its members said that rising prices for petroleum products could bring additional billions of U.S. dollars to the Russian budget.

"The people of Ukraine are confident that only effective and tough sanctions will stop Russia from this terrible aggression. This will help prevent a tragic catastrophe in Ukraine, Europe and, finally, in the entire democratic world," the Energy Committee said.

The deputies said that Ukraine appreciates the adopted sanctions, due to which the Russian financial system is experiencing significant damage, and its cash flows will be slowed down and constrained, but they are not enough.

"Nevertheless, Russia still has the main sources that generate these financial flows and form the federal budget, the money from which is sent to further kill Europeans," the members of the committee said.