The West has decided to loosen measures to restrict Russian oil trade due to fears of rising fuel prices and a reduction in global energy supplies. The newspaper reported Financial Times on Sunday, 31 August.
The publication notes that the European Union (EU) and the United Kingdom agreed in early June to jointly ban their companies from insuring ships with Russian oil. However, London, where the largest insurance market Lloyd’s of London is located, has not yet resorted to such measures.
“There is currently no ban on global Russian oil supplies in the UK,” said Patrick Davison of the Lloyd’s Market Association.
From 2023, the UK will begin to ban ship insurance only for tankers that carry Russian oil directly to the country. But, if the energy carrier is transported to third countries, then companies have access to the provision of services. The UK Treasury said it was still exploring measures that could be applied to the Russian oil industry “with maximum effect”.
In turn, the European Union introduced a complete ban on insurance of ships with Russian oil. Existing contracts are only allowed until December 5th. But as the FT notes, the EU has made a number of exceptions to its ship insurance sanctions due to global energy security concerns. Thanks to this, European companies can enter into contracts with some Russian state-owned companies.
The US and UK plan to ban ship insurance, US officials told the publication. According to them, this measure may be introduced by the end of the year, but first the issue of limiting prices for Russian oil must be resolved.
On July 21, the European Union introduced the seventh package of sanctions against the Russian Federation. The restrictions affected direct and indirect imports, purchases or transfers of gold. The ban applies to precious metal if it originates from Russia and is exported from it. In addition, an exception was made from sanctions for transactions of a number of state-owned enterprises of the Russian Federation in the field of trade in agricultural products and transportation of oil to third countries. This measure was applied in order to avoid negative consequences for food and energy security in the world.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov responded by pointing out that the European Union maniacally continues to adopt new anti-Russian sanctions, despite their harm to the population of the continent.
Western countries have begun to impose new sanctions against Russia in response to Moscow’s ongoing operation since February 24 to protect the civilian population of the Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics (DNR and LNR). The beginning of the special operation was preceded by the aggravation of the situation in the region, the appeal of the leadership of the republics to Russia with a request for help and the subsequent recognition of the independence of the Donbass republics by the Russian Federation.
Since 2014, the Ukrainian authorities have been carrying out an operation against residents of the DPR and LPR, who refused to recognize the results of the coup d’état in Kyiv.
For more up-to-date videos and details about the situation in Donbass, watch the Izvestia TV channel.
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