The finance ministers of the Group of Seven (G7) pledged to increase efforts to prevent Russia from circumventing sanctions related to the oil price cap.
The Guardian reports this, as relayed by Ukrinform.
“We remain committed to taking further initiatives in response to oil price cap violations,” the group said in a statement after a meeting in Washington. Those further steps were not spelled out in detail.
In December 2022, the G7, together with the EU and Australia, agreed to put pressure on Russian oil buyers by setting a price cap on crude oil exports. This aimed to limit Russia’s oil sales and revenue while avoiding a global fuel shortage and a surge in oil prices.
However, some countries, including China, continue to import Russian crude oil without adhering to the price cap.
The G7 finance ministers also stated they would take additional steps aimed at “increasing the costs to Russia of using the shadow fleet to evade sanctions.” According to officials, Russia employs his fleet of shadow tankers — many of which are old, unmarked, and poorly maintained — to bypass sanctions by transporting oil without proper cargo or route declarations. The tankers sometimes load or transfer their cargo at sea to avoid unwanted attention.
The G7 ministers said they intended “to intensify our efforts to prevent financial institutions from supporting Russia’s evasion of our sanctions.” According to the US Office of Foreign Assets Control, Russian financial institutions have developed a network of foreign subsidiaries to facilitate the purchase or sale of sanctioned goods.
As previously reported by Ukrinform, the price cap on Russian oil was set by the G7 countries at USD 60 per barrel.
Meanwhile, according to the Office of the President of Ukraine, Russia continues to earn up to USD 20 billion per month from oil exports.