G7 to strengthen measures against Russian oil fleet, energy and metals
G7 to stifle Kremlin's energy projects (Getty Images)
Leaders of the Group of Seven (G7), following their summit in Italy, will pledge to tighten price caps on Russian oil, strangle future Kremlin energy projects, and cut Moscow’s revenue from metals, according to Bloomberg.
"We will continue to apply significant pressure on Russian revenues from energy and other commodities," reads the draft statement, which is expected to be published today.
The G7 price cap on Russian oil and petroleum products prohibits Western shipowners, insurers, and brokers from providing vessels and services for cargoes priced above the threshold levels.
Although the restrictions have led to a decline in Western insurance and a need for alternatives, Moscow has managed to evade most of the consequences by forming a fleet of tankers operating under hard-to-track jurisdictions and turning to non-Western service providers to deliver cargo to new markets such as India.
The US, UK, and EU have recently begun sanctioning ships involved in these deliveries.
The G7 "will take steps, including sanctions and innovative enforcement activities leveraging respective geographies, to combat Russia’s use of deceptive alternative shipping practices to circumvent our sanctions by way of its shadow fleet," the statement says.
G7 leaders will also pledge to do more to impede "the development of future energy projects and disrupting access to the goods and services on which those projects rely," and will continue to reduce Russia's revenue from metals.
Much of the G7 summit, held this week in the southern Italian region of Apulia, focused on Russia's war against Ukraine. The group agreed on a $50 billion syndicated loan plan to use profits from frozen Russian assets to aid Kyiv.
