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EU imposes cap on Russian oil
Western countries have begun imposing a US$60-per-barrel price cap, and ban, on some types of Russian oil. It is part of new measures aimed at stepping up pressure against Moscow, over its war on Ukraine. The European Union, along with Australia, Britain, Canada, Japan, and the United States, agreed to the price cap on Friday.
The move has prompted a rejection from the Kremlin, and also criticism from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, whose government wants the cap to be half as high.
The Ukrainian government demanded over the weekend a lower price cap, to US$30 per barrel, insisting that at the US$60 level Russia would still reap annual oil revenues of US$100 billion, which is money that can be used to finance its war machine.
Russia, the world's No. 2 oil producer, relies on the sale of oil and gas to underpin its economy, which has already come under sweeping international sanctions over President Vladimir Putin's war in Ukraine.
