All news

Europe to pay for Russian oil price cap, Chinese expert warns

"Moscow would feel a pinch as it would limit Russia's ability to export oil to the West, but it would not be a major impact," Cui Heng noted

BEIJING, December 7. /TASS/. Europe will have to search for replacements for Russian oil and pay higher prices after introducing a price cap, Cui Heng, an assistant research fellow at the Center for Russian Studies of East China Normal University, told the Global Times newspaper.

According to the paper, the expert believes that the price will have to be paid by Europe itself as European countries will have to find replacements for Russian crude and pay higher prices to buy LNG from the UK and the US.

"Moscow would feel a pinch as it would limit Russia's ability to export oil to the West, but it would not be a major impact," Cui Heng noted.

Russia "can find buyers such as China and India to fill in the gap, or, it can get round it by exporting oil first to Middle Eastern countries and then to Europe," the expert added.

G7 countries, the European Union and Australia earlier agreed to cap the price of Russian seaborne oil at $60 a barrel. Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov stated that Moscow would not accept the price cap. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov, in turn, noted that the move to introduce a price limit could only lead to a rise in energy prices in Western countries.