Russia will ban the sale of its oil to countries using the price cap on February 1

"The delivery of Russian oil and oil products to foreign legal entities and other individuals is prohibited" if they use the ceiling price, is it written in a decree signed Tuesday by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The decree specifies that this measure is planned for a period of five months, "until July 1, 2023".

Only "a special decision" by Vladimir Putin himself will be able to allow the delivery of Russian oil to one or more countries which have set up the price ceiling in recent weeks, it is indicated in the decree published on Tuesday.

At the beginning of December, the 27 Member States of the European Union, the G7 countries and Australia had agreed, after months of negotiations, on a cap on the price of Russian oil for export at 60 dollars. per barrel.

In fact, only oil sold by Russia at a price equal to or less than 60 dollars can continue to be delivered.

Beyond this ceiling, it is forbidden for companies to provide the services allowing its maritime transport (freight, insurance, etc.).

The objective of such a measure is to deprive Moscow of significant revenues to finance its military intervention in Ukraine.

However, the price of a barrel of Russian oil (crude from the Urals) is currently fluctuating around 65 dollars, barely above the fixed ceiling, implying a limited short-term impact of this measure, according to many observers.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had thus deplored "a weak position" of his Western allies at the time of his establishment.

For their part, the Russian leaders had repeatedly declared "not to accept" this mechanism which "will have no impact" on the course of the Russian offensive against its Ukrainian neighbor.

On December 9, Vladimir Putin threatened the West to "reduce production" of Russian oil "if necessary", then castigating a "stupid decision".

Russia is the world's second largest oil exporter and was, in 2021, the second largest supplier of black gold to European Union countries.

According to European leaders, 90% of Russian oil exports to the EU will already be stopped by the end of 2022 in protest against the Russian offensive in Ukraine.

© 2022 AFP