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The European Commission, the EU’s executive branch, had proposed to lower the oil price cap from USD60 to US$45, which is lower than the market price, to target Russia’s vast energy revenues. The 27 member countries decided to set the price per barrel at just under US$48.
The European Union and Britain on Friday ramped up pressure on Russia over its war on Ukraine, targeting Moscow’s energy sector, shadow fleet of aging oil tankers, and military intelligence service with new sanctions.
EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said after the bloc agreed its new measures, including a new oil price cap, that Europe would not back down on its support to Ukraine. Kallas added that one of its strongest sanctions packages against Russia to date was linked to the war, now in its fourth year. It comes as European countries start to buy US weapons for Ukraine to help the country better defend itself.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy welcomed the new measures, describing them as a “timely and necessary” step amid intensified Russian attacks. “All infrastructure of Russia’s war must be blocked,” Zelenskyy said, adding that Ukraine will synchronize its sanctions with the EU and introduce its own additional measures soon.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov brushed off the EU move, saying that “we consider such unilateral restrictions unlawful.””At the same time, we have acquired certain immunity from sanctions. We have adapted to living under sanctions,” Peskov said in a conference call with reporters. “We will need to analyse the new package in order to minimise negative consequences from it.”
NATO also condemned Russia’s cyberattacks, saying in a statement that “we will respond to these at a time and in a manner of our choosing, in accordance with international law, and in coordination with our international partners including the EU.”
The European Commission, the EU’s executive branch, had proposed to lower the oil price cap from US$60 to US$45, which is lower than the market price, to target Russia’s vast energy revenues. The 27 member countries decided to set the price per barrel at just under US$48.
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The EU has slapped several rounds of sanctions on Russia since Putin ordered his troops into Ukraine on February 24, 2022. More than 2,400 officials and “entities” — often government agencies, banks, companies or organisations — have been hit with asset freezes and travel bans.
