Washington wants to force Moscow to comply with the oil price cap mechanism
US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen issued a stark warning to Russia on Thursday: Comply with a yet-to-be-imposed oil price cap mechanism or face even harsher sanctions.
According to Yellen, if Moscow refuses to go along with the proposal to limit its oil revenue, the EU and US will ban the provision of insurance and other financial services to the country.
“I think from Russia’s point of view, a price cap or price exception to a policy that would otherwise be yet harsher on Russia is something that they should be willing to go along with,” Yellen said at a press briefing in Nusa Dua, Indonesia ahead of a meeting of G20 finance ministers and central bankers.
According to Yellen, if Russia refuses to comply with the proposal to limit its oil revenue, the EU and US would be forced to ban providing insurance and other financial services to the country.
“So, we’re proposing an exception that would allow Russia to export as long as the price doesn’t exceed a to-be-determined level. Otherwise, Russia faces a situation where it will be completely cut off from those critical services, and that’s likely to shut-in a substantial amount of Russian oil,” the official warned. She said the mechanism should be viewed as “mitigating the impact that the insurance and financial services ban would otherwise have.”