Under the bipartisan proposal sponsored by Democrat Senator Chris Van Hollen and Republican Republican Pat Toomey in order to cut off energy revenue funding Russia’s special operation in Ukraine, the cap would be imposed in March and reduced by a third each year until reaching a break-even price within three years.
The senators propose to enforce the cap through secondary sanctions on foreign companies involved in the sale or transport of Russian oil, including financial institutions such as banks, insurance and reinsurance companies, and brokerages. Countries that increase their purchases of Russian oil beyond pre-conflict volumes would also face secondary sanctions.
Russia's first liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant on Sakhalin
© Sputnik / Sergey Krasnouhov
/ However, the Biden administration previously said that secondary sanctions would create tensions with countries like China and India that do not support a cap and have increased their purchases of Russian oil.
The US, Britain, and the EU slapped several packages of sanctions on Russia in response to Moscow launching its special military operation in Ukraine on February 24, 2022. The restrictions led to an energy crisis in the EU, Britain, and many other countries amid record-high fuel prices and skyrocketing inflation.
Moscow previously addressed the issue when the EU discussed possible caps on Russian gas, warning that if the move is implemented, it will prompt Russia to discard its energy contracts for supplying the fuel to Europe. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, for his part, stressed that the of idea of the G7 states to put a limit on the price of Russian oil is absurd and will destabilize energy markets.