President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine has strongly criticized the plan negotiated by the Group of 7 to impose a maximum price of $ 60 per barrel on Russian crude, saying that this ceiling is not low enough to limit significantly to the Kremlin’s war effort and argues that the architects were “trying to avoid major decisions.”
Mr Zelensky made the comments late on Saturday in his nightly addressjust a day after European Union diplomats reached the following agreement protracted negotiations.
The $60 per barrel threshold is a compromise: A group of European maritime states have asked for a price ceiling of $70 a barrel or higher, to ensure that their business interests will not be interrupted; Another group of pro-Ukrainian nations have demanded a cap at or around $30 a barrel to significantly cut Russia’s oil revenue. In the end, the negotiators decided on a price close to what major Russian oil buyers, such as China and India, are currently paying.
The deal is heralded by supporters as one that is likely to both make a small dent in the Kremlin’s energy revenues and avert a global oil shock. But Mr. Zelensky found it flawed.
“The logic is clear: If the price cap for Russian oil were $60 instead of $30, as Poland and the Baltic states talked about, the Russian budget would receive about $100 billion. every year,” said Mr. Zelensky.
This money will not only go to war and not just to Russia’s continued funding of other terrorist regimes and organizations, he continued. “This money will also be used to further destabilize precisely those countries that are currently trying to avoid major decisions.”
Kremlin spokesman Dmitri S. Peskov said on Saturday that Moscow would not accept a price ceiling on Russian oil, According to Russian state news agency, Tass.
The United States has led the push for an agreement along what was ultimately negotiated. After the deal was announced, Treasury Secretary Janet L. Yellen praised the plan. It has helped “achieve our goal of limiting Putin’s main source of revenue for his illegal war in Ukraine while maintaining the stability of the global energy supply,” she said, refers to the Russian leader, Vladimir V. Putin.
Western sanctions have so far failed to weaken Moscow’s energy exports: Russia is on the right track earn more this year from oil sales compared to 2021, supported by soaring global prices after the war began.
And The question remains whether the new plan can be implemented. It relies on each party in Russia’s oil supply chain to attest to the prices of shipments, and insurers and shippers have warned that records could be falsified by those seeking to keep the oil safe. of Russia is in circulation.
In his remarks, Mr Zelensky lamented that the “price cap discussion” had “ended up in the world” without any “big decisions”.
“You wouldn’t call it a big decision to put such a cap on Russian prices,” he said of the $60 cap, adding that the cap would be “quite comfortable for people.” with the budget of a terrorist state”.
“Russia has caused great harm to all countries in the world by deliberately destabilizing energy markets,” he said.
EU diplomats have agreed that the price ceiling should be reviewed every two months, or more often if needed, by a committee of policymakers from the Group of Seven countries and allies.
