BRUSSELS (Parliament Politics Magazine) – As part of the most recent wave of sanctions to “make the Kremlin pay” for escalating the war against Ukraine, the EU executive has pledged to cap the price of Russian oil and impose additional restrictions on high-tech trade.
Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, claimed that Russia had taken the invasion to “a new level,” citing the partial mobilisation order, the fake referendums in Russian-occupied territory, and President Putin’s threat to deploy nuclear weapons. They were determined to make the Kremlin pay for further escalating the war, she declared.
She said that in order to keep the world markets stable and help limit Russia’s income the EU would impose a price cap on Russian oil. To further hinder the Kremlin’s ability to wage war, the European Commission also seeks to impose additional limits on the high-tech products that the EU can sell to Russia, such as aviation components and certain chemicals.
Von der Leyen said that anyone who aided Russia in evading sanctions risks having their name added to the EU’s list of restrictive measures. This will significantly dissuade people, she remarked.
Oleg Ustenko, economic adviser to the Ukrainian president, urged the EU to set a price cap on Russian oil “as soon as possible” just before she spoke. Ustenko claimed that Russia was making hundreds of millions of dollars each day from the sale of oil, which was being used to finance the war.
Obviously, cutting off Putin’s administration from all funding sources was the fundamental objective. Without a question, anything related to fossil fuels served as their primary source of funding at the moment, he continued.
The Beyond Coal tracker reveals since the beginning of invasion on February 24, EU countries have spent €98.5 billion (£88 billion) on Russian coal, gas and oil with more than €50 billion going toward oil.
On Wednesday afternoon, Commission representatives briefed the ambassadors of the EU’s 27 member states on the proposals. Despite the fact that the plans date before the fake referendums that Russia organised in Ukraine’s occupied territory, the EU has responded by adding additional names to its sanctions list. EU travel bans and asset freezes will be imposed on officials who work for proxy Russian officials in Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia as well as those who helped organise the fake polls.
Following a commitment made by the G7 earlier this month, the EU’s proposal for an oil price cap was widely anticipated. According to agreements reached by the US, Canada, Japan, the UK, France, Germany, and Italy, companies that ship and insure Russian oil will only be permitted to function provided they maintain a price below a level that has not yet been decided.
