Ukrainian campaign groups Business for Ukraine (B4Ukraine) and Razom We Stand have today sent a letter to the UK Cabinet Office, co-signed by over 30 Ukrainian and international organisations, as well as by UK MPs, calling for the immediate cancellation of public contracts with TotalEnergies, the French energy giant still heavily involved in Russian LNG exports. The current government contract is to start the renewal process next month, in February 2026.
The move follows revelations revealing that multiple central UK government departments—including No.10 Downing Street, the Cabinet Office, Foreign Office, Treasury, and the Department of Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNEZ)—are being heated by gas supplied by TotalEnergies, a company that retains a 20% stake in Russia’s Yamal LNG project.
Svitlana Romanko, Executive Director of Razom We Stand, stated,
“It is indefensible that public money from UK taxpayers is still flowing to a company like TotalEnergies, which is helping to prop up Putin’s war economy. With brutal Russian attacks on our energy systems, knocking out energy and heating systems across Ukraine in -20c weather, we are thankful for all the support we can get to survive the winter, and continue our fight. We implore the UK government to immediately announce an end to its contract with TotalEnergies, and help give us Ukrainians a fighting chance to survive and keep battling, until we win a just peace.”
Nezir Sinani, Executive Director of B4Ukraine, said:
“While millions of Ukrainians are forced to survive in the cold and in darkness due to Russia’s energy terrorism, Britain—as a key partner of Kyiv—must send a clear and powerful signal of solidarity. It should end the shameful situation in which TotalEnergies, a company with ongoing links to the trade and production of Russian LNG, supplies gas to heat the highest offices of the British government.
Doing so would reaffirm London’s strong and principled stance against Russia’s unprovoked aggression—and send an unmistakable message to international companies: financing Russia’s war, profiting from aggression, or collaborating with the Kremlin will come at a price.”
The letter highlights ethical, security, and foreign policy risks, and urges the UK government to immediately review and cancel this contract. Any delay sends the wrong message—to the people of Ukraine, and to the world—about the UK’s resolve to stand with those facing brutal aggression.
The letter, addressed to the Minister for the Cabinet Office, Nick Thomas-Symonds MP, calls the arrangement “indefensible” and urges the government to:
- Decline to renew the TotalEnergies public sector gas contract in 2026, and to make a public announcement that the contract will not be renewed due to their business connections in Russia.
- Implement broader deterrent measures to disincentivise businesses from continuing commercial ties with Russia, including restrictions on access to government contracts and exclusion from public procurement opportunities.
- Set out a clear plan for transitioning government departments to clean, conflict-free energy sources.
The letter to Minister Thomas-Symonds notes that Defence Secretary John Healey recently identified the dismantling of the Russian oil “shadow fleet” as a government priority, underscoring the inconsistency of awarding UK government contracts to firms engaged in Russia’s energy trade, which is used to finance the ongoing invasion of Ukraine.
The civil society groups warn that continuing such contracts sends a dangerous signal, undermining both the UK’s moral authority and broader Western sanctions designed to curb Russia’s war financing.
TotalEnergies’ maintained strategic partnerships in Russia follow the consistent pattern of recklessness and unaccountability, as in recent years the company was probed in the French Senate for undermining the Paris Agreement and has been implicated in grave human rights violations in Mozambique.
