International Working Group On Sanctions Against Russia Presents Roadmap For Energy Sanctions

The International Working Group on Sanctions against Russia has presented a roadmap for energy sanctions.

This is stated in the message of the President's Office, Ukrainian News Agency reports.

"The International Working Group on Sanctions against Russia, headed by the Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine Andrii Yermak and the Director of the Freeman-Spogli Institute for International Studies (FSI), ex-advisor to the President of the United States on national security issues, Ambassador Michael McFaul, presented the second developed document - a roadmap for energy sanctions: recommendations for sanctions against the Russian Federation. After the presentation of the Action Plan to strengthen sanctions against Russia, the international expert group continued to work and prepared a document that details the topic of energy sanctions, helping governments and companies around the world to form proposals for a sanctions policy against Russia," it says.

According to the report, the imposition of energy sanctions should increase the cost of invading Ukraine for the Russian Federation and help the Ukrainian state protect territorial integrity, freedom and democratic values.

"The authors of the roadmap of energy sanctions draw attention to the fact that the Russian budget is based on revenues from the sale of energy resources, primarily to European countries. Since February 24, the EU has paid about USD 800 million daily for imports of Russian oil and gas. The document contains recommendations on political actions that will help deprive Russia of this income, minimizing interruptions in the markets and in the global economy. The expert group supports the decision of the European Commission to introduce a complete ban on the import of all Russian oil, and also justifies a gradual embargo on gas imports from the Russian Federation. Along with this, experts provide proposals, inclusive with specific mechanisms, how to ensure the managed phased implementation of such a ban, while minimizing revenues from the export of Russian oil during the transition period," the message says.

According to the report, such mechanisms can be considered by individual countries as priority.

"We are talking about a regulated import tax (or tariff) and the storage of energy funds on a special escrow account. Special attention is drawn to additional sanctions measures to prevent circumvention of restrictions imposed on the energy sector. In particular, these are targeted sanctions against sea export service providers, bypassing the controlled sales regime. In addition, the roadmap proposed strategies to make Europe independent of Russian energy and counteract the use of energy resources as a weapon," the statement said.

The document also notes the importance of disconnecting Russia from financial flows received from gas exports, since Europe during the war pays the Russian Federation much more for gas than for oil.

The expert group emphasizes that the European embargo on Russian energy should be part of a coordinated strategy between the EU and the United States, which includes synchronized diplomatic steps and interaction with stakeholders in the private sector.

As Ukrainian News Agency earlier reported, on May 4, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen presented details of the sixth package of sanctions against Russia, including an oil embargo and the disconnection of Russian Sberbank from SWIFT (an international interbank system for transferring information and making payments).