$60 price cap on Russian oil kicks in
The price cap aims to restrict Russia’s revenue while making sure Moscow keeps supplying the global market
KYIV/BRUSSELS: The price cap on Russian oil agreed by the EU, G7 and Australia came into force on Monday. It aims to restrict Russia’s revenue as punishment for its invasion of Ukraine, while making sure Moscow keeps supplying the global market.
The $60-per-barrel price cap aims to restrict Russia’s revenue while making sure Moscow keeps supplying the global market. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Monday the measure would contribute to a destabilisation of world energy markets and would not affect Russia’s military campaign in Ukraine.
The cap took effect alongside an EU embargo on maritime deliveries of Russian crude oil, which comes several months after an embargo imposed by the United States and Canada.
Russia is the world’s secondlargest crude exporter and without the cap it would be easy to find new buyers at market prices. Companies based in the EU, G7 countries and Australia will be banned from providing services enabling maritime transport, such as insurance, with oil above that price.
There is a transition period, and the cap will not apply to cargoes loaded before December 5, and a further cap on oil products will come into effect on February 5.
$60 oil price cap won’t deter Russia: Zelensky
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the world had shown weakness by setting the cap at that level.
According to Zelensky, the $60 cap would do little to deter Russia from waging war in Ukraine. “You wouldn’t call it a serious decision to set such a limit for Russian prices, which is quite comfortable for the budget of a terrorist state.”
The United States and its allies have imposed sanctions on Russia since it invaded Ukraine on February 24 and sent billions of dollars in aid to the Ukrainian government.
French President Emmanuel Macron, however, drew criticism from Ukraine and its Baltic allies over the weekend for suggesting the West should consider Russia’s need for security guarantees if it agrees to talks to end the war.
Zelensky’s aide, Mykhailo Podolyak, said the world needed security guarantees from Russia, not the other way around.
Fighting continues in eastern Ukraine
On the battlefront, Zelensky said Ukrainian forces were holding positions along the front line, including near Bakhmut, viewed as Russia’s next target in their advance through Donetsk.
Ukraine’s military said Russian forces were pressing for improved tactical positions to advance in the Bakhmut and Avdiivka directions. About 16 settlements, including Bakhmut and Avdiivka, were shelled by tanks, mortars, barrel and rocket artillery, the General Staff of Ukraine’s armed forces added. Russian forces are on the defensive along the Zaporizhzhia frontline while hitting four settlements in the Donetsk region and six in the Zaporizhzhia region, Ukraine’s army added.
Russia’s defence ministry said its troops were conducting successful operations in the area of Bakhmut and had pushed back Ukrainian attacks in the Donetsk direction.
Russian-installed officials in the occupied Donetsk said Ukraine fired at least 10 Grad rockets into the city.
Russian-backed military officials in Ukraine’s eastern Luhansk region said nine people were killed on Monday after Ukraine shelled the city of Alchevsk, the state-run TASS news agency reported
In Kryvyi Rih, among the largest cities in southern Ukraine, Russian rockets killed one person and wounded three just after midnight, the governor of the Dnipropetrovsk region, Valentyn Reznichenko, said. “They aimed at an industrial enterprise,” Reznichenko said on the Telegram messaging app without giving details.
The head of US intelligence said fighting in Ukraine was running at a “reduced tempo” and that militaries on both sides were looking to refit and resupply to prepare for a counter-offensive after the winter.