Russia bans oil export to countries using price cap

Russian President Vladimir Putin has issued a decree banning oil sales to countries and companies that comply with a Western-backed price cap on Russian oil.

According to Press TV, Putin signed the decree on Tuesday, banning the supply of oil and oil products to nations participating in the price cap on Russian oil from February 1, 2023 for five months until July 1.

"The supply of Russian oil and oil products to foreign legal entities and individuals is prohibited if the contracts for these supplies" are using a price cap, the presidential decree said.

The decree includes a clause that allows for Putin to overrule the ban in special cases.

Earlier this month, the European Union (EU) and the Group of Seven industrialized nations (G7) agreed on a $60-per-barrel price cap on Russian oil imports in an alleged attempt to starve Russia's ongoing military campaign in Ukraine.

The price cap is also aimed at punishing Russia over its cutting off of most of its gas deliveries to the EU countries in reaction to the sanctions that the bloc has imposed on Moscow over the Ukraine conflict.

Putin's Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said last week that the move was an attack on market pricing mechanisms.

Russia's special operation in Ukraine started in late February, with Moscow saying that it was aimed at defending the pro-Russian population in the eastern Ukrainian regions of Luhansk and Donetsk against persecution by Kiev. 

ME