Germany could end Russian oil imports this year, Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on Friday, Reuters reported.

Scholz responded to a reporter's question about whether he feels ashamed that EU countries are paying billions of euros to Russia for fossil fuels.

"We are actively working to get independent from the import of (Russian) oil and we think that we will be able to make it during this year," Scholz said during a news conference in London with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

"This is, as you may imagine, not that easy because it needs infrastructure that has to be built first. So pipelines to the northern shore of Germany, regasification ports that make it possible for example that LNG ships could give their supply to the gas grid in Germany," he added.

This week, the European Union approved new sanctions against Russia, including a ban on coal imports from August. Germany has stepped up efforts to reduce imports of Russian energy.

Russian oil now accounts for 25% of German imports, down from 35% before the invasion, and gas imports have been cut to 40% from 55%. Russian hard coal imports were down to 25% from 50% before the invasion.

Stopping Russian gas imports is harder on Germany, which received 40% of its supplies from Russia in the first quarter. Germany wants to reduce the share of Russian gas to 24% by this summer. But Europe's largest economy may need until the summer of 2024 to end its dependence on Russian gas.