Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov spoke out against the 60 dollars per barrel cap on Russian oil exports agreed by the EU, the G7 and Australia last week. The Kremlin views this measure one aiming at destabilizing world energy markets.
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The price cap agreed in June as part of the EU's sixth package of sanctions against Russia came into force this Monday, December 5. Speaking to the press today, Peskov said that "the decision [on retaliatory measures] is still being prepared, but, of course, one thing is obvious here. We will not recognize any price caps."
On several occasions, Peskov has said that Moscow will not accept or abide by any such price limitations and will not sell its oil to any country endorsing them.
The Kremlin spokesman also warned of the detrimental effect such a move will have on world energy prices, noting that "the adoption of these decisions is a step towards the destabilization of world energy markets."
Likewise, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said on Sunday that "this tool is not market-based, it is ineffective, it grossly interferes with market instruments, it is contrary to all rules, such as those of the WTO." "We are not going to use price-limiting instruments," Novak said.
Peskov further referred to the damage that EU countries have suffered as a result of their own anti-Russian sanctions. "It would probably be unprofessional to hide the damage that sanctions are causing to European countries, I mean sanctions that the Europeans have imposed on us (...) all our specialists, specialists in Brussels and specialists in Berlin are perfectly aware of it."
These comments came in response to statements by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz that week by week the effectiveness of restrictions imposed by the EU on Moscow for its special military operation in Ukraine have been incrementing. Scholz warned that sanctions will not be lifted as long as it is Russia that sets the conditions for ending the current conflict.