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G7 and EU countries want to further sanction Russian oil production (archive photo).
In Kyiv, the resolutions do not go far enough
Photo: Dmitry Lovetsky / dpa
Ukraine has criticized the price cap for Russian oil, which the G7 and EU countries have decided on, as "too comfortable".
President Volodymyr Zelenskyj said on Saturday that the measure was not a "serious decision".
A price cap of $60 per barrel of oil still allows Russia to generate around $100 billion a year.
Zelenskyi's adviser Andriy Yermak explained that in order to "destroy" the Russian economy even faster, a cap of 30 dollars would have been necessary.
After a long struggle, the G7 and the EU states on Friday set a cap of 60 dollars (57 euros) per barrel for Russian oil deliveries by ship in order to make it more difficult to finance the war against Ukraine.
The G7 states announced that they would monitor the effectiveness of the price cap and "adjust the upper limit if necessary".
Sanctions should be harder for Russia to circumvent
The price cap is intended to make it more difficult for Moscow to circumvent the sanctions imposed because of the Ukraine war through sales outside the EU or the G7.
China and India, for example, will continue to be able to import Russian oil, but only at the maximum price that has now been decided.
After the price cap came into force, companies from G7 and EU countries as well as Australia may only conduct business relating to the ship transport of Russian oil to third countries if the upper limit of 60 dollars is observed when selling the oil.
Companies from G7 countries currently provide around 90 percent of transport insurance worldwide and the EU is an important player in the sea freight business.
Kremlin threatens to stop deliveries
The Kremlin announced that it would not accept the price cap.
Moscow had warned in advance that it would no longer supply oil to countries that introduced a cap.
The seven major industrialized countries Germany, France, Great Britain, Italy, Japan, Canada and the USA had already introduced the price cap at the beginning of September.
In order to guarantee joint action by the West, however, an agreement within the EU had to be awaited.
Poland in particular initially called for a lower cap, reportedly around $30.
Polish EU ambassador Andrzej Sados then announced the agreement on Friday evening.
Since the market price is expected to rise, $60 is fine, he said.
Currently, the market price of Russian Urals oil is around $65 per barrel.
A little later followed the joint statement by the G7 countries and Australia, in which they announced that the $60 cap would be lifted on Monday – when the EU embargo on Russian crude oil transported by ship takes effect – “or very soon after” in will come into force.
ktz/afp
