MOSCOW (REUTERS) - The Kremlin warned on Wednesday (June 1) that the European Union's sanctions on Russian oil would hit the global energy market, but said Moscow could re-route exports to limit its own losses.
EU leaders this week agreed on an embargo on Russian crude oil imports that aims to halt 90 per cent of Russia's oil sales into the 27-member bloc by year-end.
"These sanctions will have a negative impact on the entire continent - for Europeans, for us, and for the entire global energy market," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
More than a quarter of Europe's oil came from Russia in 2021, with the EU accounting for almost half of Russia's overall crude and petroleum product exports in 2021, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA).
Energy prices have surged to multi-year highs since Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb 24, pushing inflation to its highest levels in a generation and sparking fears of a cost of living crisis in Europe and the United States.
Moscow has already started re-routing supplies away from Europe following the imposition of sanctions, the Kremlin said.
"This is a targeted, systemic action that will allow us the minimise the negative consequences," Mr Peskov told reporters.
India is among those who have cashed in on the disruption to Russian supplies, purchasing record amounts of Russian oil at a steep discount to market rates for benchmark crude.
Mr Peskov on Wednesday also sharply criticised a US decision to supply advanced rocket systems and munitions to Ukraine, warning of an increased risk of direct confrontation with Washington.
“We believe that the United States is purposefully and diligently adding fuel to the fire,” he said.
When asked how Russia would respond if Ukraine used US-supplied rockets to strike Russian territory, Mr Peskov said: “Let’s not talk about worst-case scenarios”.
US President Joe Biden has agreed to provide Ukraine with advanced rocket systems that can strike with precision at long-range Russian targets as part of a new US package to help Kyiv defend itself in the three-month-old war that began with Russia’s Feb 24 invasion.
Washington agreed to supply the rockets, which are capable of hitting targets as far away as 80km, after Ukraine gave “assurances” they will not use the missiles to strike inside Russia itself, senior US officials said.
Mr Peskov said Moscow did not trust such assurances. He said it was assessing the risk of rockets being fired into Russian territory and was taking appropriate measures, but that it viewed Washington’s step “extremely negatively”. He said such supplies would not encourage Ukraine’s leadership to resume stalled peace talks.
Ukrainian officials have been asking allies for longer-range missile systems that can fire a barrage of rockets hundreds of miles away, in the hopes of turning the tide of the war.
Mr Biden wrote in an opinion piece in the New York Times: “We have moved quickly to send Ukraine a significant amount of weaponry and ammunition so that it can fight on the battlefield and be in the strongest possible position at the negotiating table.”
Earlier, state news agency RIA Novosti quoted Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov as saying, when asked about the prospect of a direct confrontation between the US and Russia: “Any arms shipments that continue, that are on the rise, increase the risks of such a development.”
