Sanctions against the Russian Federation – Ukraine should actively lobby for its interests
The content of the new, eighth package of sanctions against Russia from the side of the European Union witnessed the crisis of the sanctions process in its energy part. The director of the Energy Research Center writes about whether a way out of this situation is possible Oleksandr Kharchenko in the article “New sanctions against Russian oil: the action is hidden in the details.”
According to the expert, the final content of the energy sanctions, namely – the widely publicized “price ceiling” of oil has not yet been determined. Its size will directly depend on the position of the “Big Seven”, and the extent to which they will act depends on one of the largest buyers of Russian oil – China and India. Another thing is that, unfortunately, Ukraine currently does not show any reasonable proactive position in the negotiation process.
“Ukraine should move from calls to “let’s give up sanctions” to proposing specific sanctions plans and reporting on these plans with partners,” – emphasizes Kharchenko.
The author notes that the tension between the US and the EU, on the one hand, and China, on the other, can prevent reaching an agreement. And here, of course, Ukraine has to play its role.
“After all, we are the most interested in creating a “price ceiling”. It is we who have the opportunity to insist as much as possible on the postulate “less money in Russia means the war will end faster.” Report to both China and India, and the elites of both countries, although they use the opportunity to make money from this war, at the same time understand all the risks that it brings to the world. Of course, it is important to do this by coordinating your steps with key allies — the United States and Great Britain. Ukraine’s “shuttle” energy diplomacy could certainly play its role in the great geopolitical game,” – the expert notes.
But, as Oleksandr Kharchenko emphasizes, unfortunately, today there are no signs that the Ukrainian authorities have created a team that would focus on this work.
He is sure that such a team would definitely have several very important fronts. And first of all, this is the oil front.
“Today, the Ukrainian team should offer our partners options for sanctioning violators of the “ceiling” and work as “shuttles” of the loom of negotiations, stitching together the future agreement,” – is given by an expert.
The second front should be sanctions for Rosatom, namely, the work on the formation of a sanctions package in the area of Russia’s access to international research resources (for example, the development of thermonuclear reactors) and many other sanction projects.
“Restrictive measures against Russia should have been announced loudly in political appeals to international partners. You have to work hard and a lot on them, otherwise there will be no real result,” – summarizes Oleksandr Kharchenko.
yours, Russia declares that it will not sell oil to countries that support the ceiling price.