WAHINGTON: The United States and Britain on Friday announced sanctions against Russia’s energy field, including oil giant Gazprom Neft, just weeks before cheerful President Joe Biden leaves company.
According to the US Treasury Department,” the G7 responsibility to reduce Russian revenues from strength” includes designating more than 180 boats as well as Russian crude degrees Gazprom Neft and Surgutneftegas.
At the same time, the UK government announced sanctions against the two organizations, saying their profits were “lining ( Russian President Vladimir ) Putin’s war chest and facilitating the combat” in Ukraine.
Every franc we take from Putin’s fingers helps save Ukrainian life, according to UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy in a speech.” Turning on Russian oil firms will dump Russia’s war stomach.”
According to Biden,” Putin is in strong design right now, and I think it’s really crucial that he not had any breathing room to continue doing the god-awful points he continues to do,” he said to reporters Friday at the White House.
Gazprom Neft slammed the sanctions as “baseless” and “illegitimate”, Russian state news agencies reported.
A representative of the company was quoted by Russian state news as saying,” Gazprom Neft considers the decision to list its assets on the sanctions list as baseless, illegitimate, and contrary to the principles of free competition.”
Oil prices rose on the news, with a barrel of Brent North Sea crude oil for delivery in March up 3.6 percent at$ 79.68 at around 4: 45 pm in Washington ( 2145 GMT ).
Asked about gasoline prices, Biden conceded costs could rise” as much as three, four cents a gallon”, but stressed that sanctions would have a “more profound impact” on Russia.
– ‘ Sweeping action’-
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, who claimed the Biden administration was attempting to” as heavy a legacy as possible” before the sanctions were officially announced, sparked outrage from the Kremlin spokesman.
In total, the United States announced sanctions against almost 400 people and entities.
These include 183 oil-carrying vessels, along with Russian oil traders and oilfield providers, the two Russian oil majors, and more than two dozen of their subsidiaries, according to the Treasury Department.
Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic announced plans to speak with Putin about the sanctions, which also affect Petroleum Industry of Serbia ( NIS), majority-owned by Russia’s Gazprom Neft and its parent company, Gazprom.
NIS is the only gas supplier to Serbia, and it is also the majority owner of both of the country’s gas pipelines, which transport gas from Russia to homes and businesses.
” Today, the United States imposed the most significant sanctions yet on Russia’s energy sector, by far the largest source of revenue for Putin’s war”, Daleep Singh, the Biden administration’s deputy national security advisor for international economics, said in a statement.
According to senior administration officials, the measures were meant to give the United States more leverage to facilitate a” just peace” between Ukraine and Russia.
Volodymyr Zelensky, the president of Ukraine, praised the United States for enacting the sanctions.
By disrupting its entire supply chain, he wrote in a post on the social media platform X.” These measures significantly damage the financial foundation of Russia’s war machine.
– Timing was influenced by the strong economy
Given that President-elect Trump stated desire to end the Ukraine war on day one of his presidency, his announcement comes just ten days before Biden’s resignation.
When asked about the timing, National Security Council spokesman John Kirby claimed that the US economy was also performing better and that oil markets were now “fundamentally” better than they were in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
” We believe the moment was ripe right now to adjust our strategy”, he said.
The US State Department announced it was also taking action against Russia’s energy sector,” sanctioning nearly 80 entities and individuals, including those engaged in the active production and export of liquefied natural gas ( LNG ) from Russia.”
People in the Russian metals and mining industry, as well as senior State Atomic Energy Corporation Rosatom officials, were among those named.
The move sparked condemnation from Rosatom, which called it “unreasonable and unlawful” in nature.
In a statement released by several Russian news agencies, Rosatom claimed that” the sanctions are perceived as an element of unfair competition on the part of unfriendly states.”
