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Photo: Patrick Pleul / dpa
For a long time, the G7 and EU countries debated how a possible price cap for Russian oil could work.
Last Friday, they finally decided on a cap of $60 a barrel.
The aim: to limit Moscow's means of financing the war of aggression against Ukraine.
Ukraine even hoped for a "destruction" of the Russian economy.
Now Putin's government has commented on the measure for the first time.
According to the state news agency TASS, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that preparations had been made for the price cap and that it was currently being analyzed.
It is already clear: "We will not accept this upper limit." The market price of Russian Urals oil per barrel is currently around 65 dollars.
Second largest exporter of crude oil in the world
Russia was able to prepare a reaction to the price cap over several months: the important industrialized countries had already initiated the measure at the beginning of September.
In order to guarantee joint action by the West, however, they had to wait for an agreement within the EU.
Poland in particular initially called for a much lower cap, reportedly around $30.
The price cap is intended to prevent Russia from "profiting from its war of aggression against Ukraine," according to a statement by the G7 countries, which Australia also joined.
China and India, for example, can continue to import Russian oil, but only at the maximum price that has now been decided.
The limit should also apply if the countries only handle or accompany the sale for third parties.
Russia is the world's second largest exporter of crude oil and had previously warned that it would stop supplying oil to countries that introduced a cap.
The EU gets two-thirds of its oil imports from Russia by sea, with the rest coming via pipelines.
rai/AFP/Reuters
