The US Treasury imposes sanctions on 17 Russian businessmen and government members. The restrictions also affected Maria Zakharova, the official representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
He considered the actions of American officials “another performance”.
They call me and ask about my reaction to being put on the ‘sanctions list of the US Treasury Department’. To be honest, I was sure that I was on the American stop list for a long time, ”she wrote on her Telegram channel.
Zakharova also noted that for several years it has been difficult to obtain a visa.
The U.S. Treasury also imposed sanctions on 16 entities and restrictions on various yachts, helicopters, planes and business jets.
Almost simultaneously with the announcement of these restrictions, the permanent representatives of EU countries approved the sixth package of sanctions. The document spelled out restrictions for companies in the oil and banking sectors, as well as the media.
Therefore, the supply of Russian energy resources by sea is prohibited. Bloomberg states that this ban took effect six months after the sanctions went into effect.
European politicians believe that “combined with the individual measures of Poland and Germany, this will reduce purchases by 92% by the end of the year”. It is also possible to ban oil supplies from Russia to Europe via the pipeline.
The EU also bans services to Russian oil companies.
The new restrictions will come into effect after the document is published in the EU Official Journal. This is expected to happen on Friday, June 3 at the earliest.
Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak emphasized that the embargo on Russian oil may cause a shortage of petroleum products in the EU market. But the market will have time to readjust, as the EU says its decision to ban energy supply has been delayed.
The Russian Foreign Ministry is confident that the sixth package of sanctions has had a devastating effect on the EU. Partial extraction of oil from Russia and the ban on Russian merchant ship insurance will lead to higher prices, disruption of supply chains and destabilization of energy markets. This could affect not only the oil sector but also the agricultural sector.
“Ultimately, such actions will have the opposite result – undermining the EU’s economy and energy security and precipitating the impending global food crisis that Brussels is trying to prevent verbally,” Russian diplomats said.
The Slovak company Slovnaft has already commented on the agreed package of sanctions. It is emphasized that the document makes it impossible to supply petroleum products to key markets of Central Europe.
As for how the sanctions will affect Russia, Lithuania believes the impact will not be immediate. “There is no need to wait for the effect of sanctions in the near future, that is, this year. The Russian economy will really feel them in the long run over the next few years,” said Finance Minister Gintare Skaiste.
He underlined the importance of developing the targeted course of anti-Russian sanctions and complying with the rejection of Russian energy production for several years.
A day ago, US President Joe Biden said he was considering several options to reduce Russian oil purchases, including at a discounted price. He believes that Russia will have to sell oil “at a much lower price than currently set on the market”.
But Moscow will not do this. “Russia will not sell itself anything at a loss,” said Dmitry Peskov, the press secretary of the Russian President.
At the same time, he drew attention to the current problems related to logistics, which negatively affected the global oil market. In any case, despite the artificial difficulties created by the sanctions, everything is regulated by the market,” he said, adding that “currents are directed and optimal conditions are sought.”
Early on June 2, Novak announced an increase in oil production against the backdrop of the declines in March and April. “So we find a balance point regarding the evolving situation: (sanctions) restrictions, changes in logistics chains, an increase in freight prices,” he said in an interview with Russia-24 TV channel.