Panoramic view of oil storage tanks at the Transneft-Kozmino port near the far eastern town of Nakhodka, Russia.
Yuri Maltsev | Reuters
Russia announced on Tuesday that it would ban oil sales to countries that adhere to the price ceiling imposed by the West this month, providing a long-awaited response to the most dramatic step yet to be taken. to limit Moscow’s ability to raise funds for the war in Ukraine. .
Under the price ceiling, effective December 5, oil traders must promise not to pay more than $60 a barrel for Russian seaborne oil to maintain access to Western financing. West for important aspects of global shipping such as insurance.
The cap has been set close to current Russian oil prices, but far below the price Russia could sell its oil for much of the past year, as unexpected energy profits helped Moscow offset the impact of sanctions. financial penalty.
Russia is the world’s second-largest oil exporter after Saudi Arabia, and any real disruption to its sales would have far-reaching consequences for energy supplies. global quantity.
A decree by President Vladimir Putin, published on the government portal and the Kremlin website, is seen as a direct response to the “unfriendly acts and contrary to international law of the United States of America”. States and foreign nations as well as international organizations join them”.
The Kremlin’s ban will halt the sale of crude oil to participating countries in the price ceiling from February 1 to July 1, 2023. A separate ban on refined oil products such as gasoline and diesel will come into effect on a date fixed by the government. Putin will have the right to reject measures in exceptional circumstances.
The Western price ceiling, unseen even during the Cold War between the West and the Soviet Union, is aimed at crippling Russia’s state coffers and Moscow’s military efforts in Ukraine – without crippling Russia. confused the market by actually blocking the Russian supply.
According to Finance Minister Anton Siluanov, Russia’s budget deficit could be larger than the planned 2% of GDP in 2023 as limited oil prices reduce Russia’s export earnings – an additional financial barrier for the economy. with Moscow when it spends heavily on military operations in Ukraine.
Some analysts have said the cap would have little immediate impact on the oil revenues Moscow is earning, as Russian oil prices have fallen near that level. But it could limit Moscow’s ability to profit from future price shocks.
Ghost town
Russian forces shelled and bombed towns and cities in eastern and southern Ukraine again on Tuesday. After some impressive Ukrainian victories in the fall, the war entered a slow and fierce phase as severe winter weather began at the front.
The heaviest fighting took place around the eastern city of Bakhmut, where Russia has been trying to attack for months at great human cost, and further north in the cities of Svatove and Kreminna, where Ukraine is located. trying to break through Russia’s defenses.
In Bakhmut, home to 70,000 people before the war and now mostly a bomb-stricken ghost town, Reuters reporters saw fire burning in a large residential building, while debris fell scattered on the street and most of the buildings had their windows blown out.
“Our building was destroyed. There was a shop in our building, it’s not there anymore,” said Oleksandr, 85, adding that he is the only resident left in the building. there.
Nearby, Ms. Pilaheia, 73, said she had long been used to “constant bangs”.
The UK Ministry of Defense said in an update: “Russia continues to initiate frequent small-scale attacks in these areas (of Bakhmut and Svatove), although a small number of territories have changed hands. “
Putin has repeatedly spoken of his desire to negotiate peace in comments in recent days. However, his Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov made it clear that Moscow still had a list of preconditions, including Ukraine’s recognition of Russia’s forcible conquest of about one-fifth of Ukraine’s claimed territory. merged.
Kiev says it is winning the war and will never agree to give up its land.
TASS news agency quoted Lavrov as saying late Monday: “Our proposals for demilitarization and denuclearization of regime-controlled territories eliminate threats to Russia’s security stems from that, including our new lands, well known by the enemy.
“The matter is very simple: Do them for your own good. Otherwise, the matter will be decided by the Russian military.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that as a result of attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, nearly 9 million people are now without electricity – equivalent to about a quarter of the country’s population.
Russia has been openly targeting Ukraine’s energy infrastructure with missiles and drones since October, what Kyiv says are attacks with no conceivable military purpose. , designed only to harm civilians. Moscow says the aim is to reduce Ukraine’s combat capabilities.
What was intended as a campaign to subdue Ukraine within days turned into a military defeat for the Kremlin, whose forces were defeated on the outskirts of Kyiv in the spring and forced to flee. from other areas in the fall.
Putin responded by summoning hundreds of thousands of reservists for the first time since the Second World War to fight in his “special military operation”.
In the latest humiliating defeat for the Russian military, a suspected Ukrainian drone approached the main base of Russia’s long-range strategic bomber fleet, hundreds of kilometers inside. Russian airspace, Monday. Moscow said it shot down the drone but acknowledged at least three service members were killed.
This is the second time the base has been attacked since early December, a sign that Russia has yet to fix a flaw in its air defenses that makes a daring attack possible.
