Kremlin Says Russian Oil Cap Won't Affect Ukraine Invasion Funding

Moscow stresses that it is preparing a response and warns of a "destabilization" of world energy markets

MADRID, 5 Dic. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The Kremlin stressed this Monday that the cap set by Western countries on Russian oil will not affect the financing of military operations in Ukraine and has advanced that Moscow "is preparing" a response to the measure, which Russia "does not recognize."

"Russia's economy has the necessary potential to fully meet all the needs and requirements within the framework of the special military operation, so such measures will have no impact," Russian Presidency spokesman Dimitri Peskov said.

However, he has warned that this measure "will affect the stability of the global energy market in terms of its total destabilization", before reiterating that Moscow "does not recognize any ceiling", something that he has described as "obvious".

Peskov has further argued that all countries should prepare for further price increases. "It is obvious and indisputable that the adoption of this decision is a step towards the destabilization of world energy markets," he concluded, according to the Russian news agency Interfax.

The Russian government accused the West on Saturday of reshaping at its own risk, and in a "dangerous and illegitimate" way, the principles of the free market by setting a cap of 60 dollars (about 57 euros) on oil from Russia on Friday.

The measure follows the agreement reached within the G7 to set a ceiling between 65 and 70 dollars for Russian crude, and is aimed at oil transported by sea and will not affect oil that reaches Europe through pipelines, after the exception achieved by Hungary and other landlocked European partners citing their heavy dependence on Russian oil.