Russian President Vladimir Putin announced Tuesday that Russia will ban oil sales for five months to countries that honor a price cap set by the West in an effort to hamper Moscow's stream of funds for its war in Ukraine.
The $60-a-barrel price cap, which was reached by the U.S. and other G7 nations, Australia, and the EU, went into effect on Dec. 5. "The cap has been set close to the current price for Russian oil," CNBC writes, "but far below the prices at which Russia was able to sell it for much of the past year, when windfall energy profits helped Moscow offset the impact of financial sanctions." Russia said its ban will come into force on Feb. 1, 2023, and applies until July 1, 2023, and allows Putin to make exceptions in special cases.
"All in all, this is a sign that Russia is in a vulnerable situation, needs oil revenues, and therefore cannot take drastic retaliation measures," Simone Tagliapietra, a senior fellow at the Bruegel think tank in Brussels, told The Wall Street Journal.