After a last-minute flurry of negotiations, the EU presidency, held by the Czech Republic, tweeted that "ambassadors have just reached an agreement on price cap for Russian seaborne. oil." The decision must still be officially approved with a written procedure but is expected to go through.
"It is no secret that we wanted the price to be lower," Kallas added, highlighting the differences within the EU. "A price between 30-40 dollars is what would substantially hurt Russia. However, this is the best compromise we could get." But the West has faced increasing pressure to target one of Russia's main money-makers – oil – to slash the funds flowing into Putin's war chest and hurt Russia's economy as the war in Ukraine drags into a ninth month. The costs of oil and natural gas spiked after demand rebounded from the pandemic and then the invasion of Ukraine unsettled energy markets, feeding Russia's coffers.
Putin has said he would not sell oil under a price cap and would retaliate against nations that implement the measure. However, Russia has already rerouted much of its supply to India, China and other Asian countries at discounted prices because Western customers have avoided it even before the EU embargo.
Even under those circumstances, the cap would make it "more costly, time-consuming and cumbersome" for Russia to sell oil around the restrictions, said Maria Shagina, a sanctions expert at the International Institute for Strategic Studies in Berlin.
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