Razaan Al Nuaimi

Source: Al Ain News

The world is awaiting decisive decisions next week from Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, in response to the countries that imposed a cap on Russian oil prices.

On Thursday, the Russian president expressed his intention to sign a decree that will represent Russia's response to the price cap imposed by the West on his country's oil, on Monday or Tuesday of next week, according to Reuters.

Putin did not provide any additional details about the expected decree, which the Kremlin described as defining Russia's response to imposing a cap on the Russian oil price of $60 per barrel, imposed by the Group of Seven industrialized countries: Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States, along with the European Union and Australia, on December 5.

This comes as part of efforts by the United States and Europe to reduce Russian oil revenues to influence Moscow's capabilities in the Ukrainian war, where selling fossil fuels is considered the main source of Russia's revenue, accounting for more than 40% of its federal budget.

Since the beginning of the war on February 24 until November 28, Moscow has achieved more than 116 billion euros in crude oil sales and 38 billion euros from petroleum products and chemicals, according to figures presented by the Center for Research on Energy (CREA), with the European Union being the largest buyer during this period.

The European Union had banned on December 5 maritime transportation services for shipping Russian crude oil to third countries if the oil was purchased above the $60 per barrel price cap, and imposed a ban on sea-transported Russian oil imports to the EU.

Alexander Novak, Deputy Prime Minister of Russia, said earlier this month that Russia expects by the end of this year to prepare legislation prohibiting Russian companies from selling oil to countries that are part of the price cap coalition.

Last week, the Russian daily newspaper Vedomosti reported, quoting government sources and a source familiar with the draft, "The decree is expected to ban such sales from Russia by July 1, 2023, with the possibility of extension."

Peskov said during a briefing with journalists last week that the decree will be published "in the coming days."