Washington has blacklisted oil giants Lukoil and Rosneft and now wants Europe to take the lead, the Secretary of State has said<\/p>\n
Washington has nearly exhausted its list of viable targets for sanctions against Moscow, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Wednesday, following its latest move to blacklist two of Russia\u2019s largest oil companies.
\nIn late October, US President Donald Trump ordered new sanctions on energy majors Lukoil and Rosneft, a move that Rubio said was made at the request of Ukraine and its backers.
\nWashington also disrupted Lukoil\u2019s attempt to sell its foreign assets to a Swiss-based energy trader, which the US Treasury Department claimed had ties to the Russian government.
\n\u201cWe hit their major oil companies, which is what everybody\u2019s been asking for,\u201d Rubio told reporters. \u201cI don\u2019t know what more there is to do. I mean, we\u2019re running out of things to sanction in that regard.\u201d<\/p>\n
Read more<\/p>\n
EU member vows to oppose seizure of Russian assets<\/p>\n
The top US diplomat added that targeting the so-called \u201cRussian shadow fleet\u201d – tankers that Western governments accuse of transporting oil covertly in defiance of their punitive measures – should now fall to European nations, as \u201ca lot of these are happening in areas much closer to them.\u201d
\nThe US and its allies have sought to cripple the Russian economy with sanctions and provide an advantage to Ukraine in the ongoing conflict. However, Moscow maintains that its economy has adapted, redirecting trade to non-Western markets.
\nMeanwhile, Ukraine faces a worsening financial crisis, with reports suggesting that it may run out of cash as early as February without an increase of Western aid. The European Union is pushing for a \u20ac140 billion ($160 billion) \u201creparation loan\u201d to keep Kiev afloat, using frozen Russian sovereign assets as collateral \u2013 a move Moscow has condemned as outright theft.
\nBelgium, which holds the majority of the immobilized Russian funds through the clearing house Euroclear, has blocked the proposal, demanding that other Western states share the financial and legal risks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Washington has blacklisted oil giants Lukoil and Rosneft and now wants Europe to take the lead, the Secretary of State has said Washington has nearly exhausted its list of viable…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":22380,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,6,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22379","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economy","category-environment","category-politics"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t