TEMPO.CO , Jakarta – Presiden Ukraina Volodymyr Zelensky praised the United States’ move to stop oil imports from Russia. He called the decision of US President Joe Biden a strong signal to the whole world.
“It’s very simple, every penny paid to Russia turns into bullets and projectiles that fly to other sovereign countries,” he said. Al JazeeraWednesday, March 9, 2022.
Zelenksy believes that stopping oil imports will make Russia rethink going to war. The reason is Russia will run out of money. “Russia will respect international law and will not go to war, or will not have the money to start a war,” he said.
Reported from Reuters, President Joe Biden announced a ban on imports of Russian oil and other energy as sanctions for the invasion of Ukraine, even though it would raise energy prices in the United States. “We are banning all imports of Russian oil and gas energy,” Biden told reporters at the White House Tuesday, March 8, 2022.
“That means Russian oil will no longer be accepted in US ports and the American people will deal another powerful blow to (Russian President Vladimir) Putin’s war machine.”
Price oil jumped on the news, with Benchmark Brent crude LCOc1 for May up 5.4 percent to $129.91 a barrel.
Biden and allies in Europe, which are far more dependent on Russian oil, are isolating Russia’s energy-intensive economy and Putin. Britain announced shortly before Biden’s statement that it would stop imports of Russian oil and oil products by the end of 2022. The other Allies have yet to decide, as they rely heavily on Russian oil and gas.
Biden said sanctions imposed by the United States and its allies caused the Russian economy to churn. He said the latest move had been made in close consultation with allies and partners around the world.
The United States imports an average of more than 20.4 million barrels of crude oil and refined products per month from Russia by 2021, about 8 percent of U.S. liquid fuel imports, according to the Energy Information Administration.
The ban is expected to make gasoline prices already high and inflation soar. The United States also imports small amounts of coal from Russia.
Read: Zelensky Leaves Bunker Says He’s in Kiev: I’m Not Afraid, Not Hiding
AL JAZEERA | REUTERS
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