The EU's recently approved 18th sanctions package against Russia and a subsequent round of new restrictions by the UK look set to add more pressure on Moscow and create more challenges for the country’s oil and gas sector. But the consequences might not be as devastating as expected.
Without US support, the new restrictions are likely to have only a marginal impact on Russian oil and gas exports, although it will take time and money for Moscow to adjust and find work-arounds.
Moscow, as usual, condemned the new measures as “illegal,” but Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the country has already “acquired a certain immunity from sanctions.”
The head of now-blacklisted Russian Direct Investment Fund, Kirill Dmitriyev, said that despite the introduction over recent years of almost 30,000 sanctions, the West was still unable to impose its "will contrary to the national interests.” His statement is taken as a further sign that Moscow is unlikely to change its position on Ukraine after 3½ years of conflict despite recent ultimatums from US President Donald Trump and this week's expected negotiations of the two warring countries' delegations in Istanbul.
Oil Restrictions
