MOSCOW — Russia shrugged off a Western-imposed price
cap on its oil exports on Monday, warning that it would not disrupt its
military campaign in
Ukraine.
اضافة اعلان
The
$60-per-barrel price cap agreed by the European Union,
G7, and Australia aims
to restrict Russia’s revenue while making sure Moscow keeps supplying the
global market.
“Russia’s
economy has all the necessary potential to fully meet the needs and
requirements of the special military operation,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry
Peskov told reporters, using Moscow’s term for the Ukraine offensive.
“These measures
will not affect this,” he said.
Russia, he
added, “will not recognize” the measures, adding that they amounted to “a step
towards destabilizing the global energy markets” and that they would “change”
oil prices.
The cap is the
latest in several measures spearheaded by Western countries and introduced
against Russia — the world’s second-largest crude oil exporter — after Moscow
sent troops into Ukraine over nine months ago.
The measure
comes on top of an EU embargo on seaborne deliveries of Russian crude oil that
came into force on Monday.
The embargo will
prevent seaborne shipments of Russian crude oil to the European Union, which
account for two thirds of the bloc’s oil imports from Russia, potentially
depriving
Russia of billions of euros.
Not enough
The market price of a barrel of Russian Urals crude is currently around
$65 dollars, just slightly higher than the $60 cap agreed, suggesting the
measure may have only a limited impact in the short term.
Kyiv, after
initially welcoming the price ceiling, later warned it would not do enough
damage to Russia’s economy.
Ukraine’s
President
Volodymyr Zelensky this weekend described the move as “weak”.
He added that
Russia had already caused “huge losses” by “deliberately destabilizing” the
global energy market.
The G7 nations —
Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Britain, and the US — along with
Australia have already said they are prepared to adjust the price ceiling if
necessary.
In recent months,
gas prices have skyrocketed since Moscow halted deliveries to Europe in
suspected retaliation for Western sanctions and the bloc struggled to find
alternative energy suppliers.
Ukraine too is
suffering an energy crisis following weeks of systematic Russian strikes on its
energy grid, which have led to emergency power cuts.
Nearly half of
the country’s energy system has been damaged and Ukrainians are frequently left
in the cold and dark for hours at a time with temperatures outside dropping
below freezing.
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