European Union leaders agreed to cut Russian oil imports by about 90% over the next six months, a dramatic move that was considered unthinkable just months ago.
In addition to retaining some European markets, Russia could sell some of the oil previously bound to Europe to China, India and other customers in Asia, even though it will have to offer discounts.
Matteo Villa, an analyst at the ISPI think tank in Milan, said Russia will take a pretty significant hit now but cautioned that the move could eventually backfire.
“The risk is that the price of oil in general goes up because of the European sanctions. And if the price goes up a lot, the risk is that Russia starts to earn more, and Europe loses the bet,” he said.
Moscow seized on the new sanctions to try to rally public support against the West, describing it as bent on destroying Russia.
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