Discussions about a multi-national ban on Russian oil are gaining traction on Sunday as its autocrat leader Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine stretches into its eleventh day.
Kyiv’s ambassador to the United States urged President Joe Biden to halt Russian oil imports in an interview on Fox News Sunday, the day after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky made a similar plea during a video meeting with members of the US Congress.
Ukrainian Ambassador Oksana Markarova called for ‘tougher’ sanctions on Moscow during an interview with Fox News Sunday over its behavior as a ‘terrorist state’ as accusations of human rights abuses and targeted civilian killings mount.
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Secretary of State Antony Blinken also revealed Sunday that the US was in ‘very active discussions’ with European allies over a wide blockade of Russian energy dollars.
He would not say whether the US was prepared to act unilaterally on such a ban, despite the wide gap between American imports of Russian oil and Europe’s dependence on it.
Russia is the world’s third-largest oil producer behind the US and Saudi Arabia. However, its crude oil accounts for roughly 13 percent of global trade, making it the largest exporter of crude.
And while US markets only bought about 8 percent of their liquid fuel from Moscow in 2021, according to the Energy Information Administration, Europe depends on it far more.
Russia was the largest exporter of oil and natural gas to the European Union in 2021, data from Eurostat show.
Meanwhile, prices at the pump are soaring in the US, both because of Russia’s war on Ukraine and 40-year high inflation plaguing American markets.
Blinken told NBC News’ Meet the Press that he discussed a ban on Russian oil imports with the president and members of his Cabinet on Saturday.
‘We are now in very active discussions with our European partners about banning the import of Russian oil to our country while, of course, at the same time, maintaining a steady global supply of oil,’ the US’s chief diplomat said.
He pointed out that the sanctions western governments have imposed so far have already had a ‘major impact’ on Russia’s economy. Last week the ruble was worth less than one cent as a result.
‘The actions we’ve taken to date have already had a devastating impact on the Russian economy. We see the ruble in free-fall, we see the economy heading into a deep recession,’ Blinken said.
‘We’ve already had a major impact. But we are looking, again, as we speak, in coordination with our allies and partners at this process of banning oil imports.’
Asked whether the US was prepared to act without Europe, Blinken touted the historic proportions of global coordination in Ukraine thus far.
