The US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, revealed this Sunday that his government is talking with its allies in Europe to ban the import of oil from Russia, in what would mean a new blow to the Russian economy in retaliation for the war in Ukraine.
Blinken, who is in Moldova, explained in an interview on CNN who on Saturday spoke on the phone about this issue with the US president, Joe Biden, and other members of the Government.
“We are now -he explained- talking with our European allies and our allies to look in a coordinated way at the possibility of prohibiting the import of Russian oil while we make sure that there is a sufficient supply of oil in global markets. The talks are very active “.
Banning oil imports would deprive the Kremlin of an important source of revenue, but it could hurt the world economy by driving up already high energy prices, which is why Western governments have resisted adopting that measure for now.
Democratic and Republican lawmakers have pressured Biden in recent days to stop the US from buying oil and crude oil products from Russia, arguing that the revenue from these imports is used by the Kremlin to finance the war in Ukraine.
In addition, this Saturday, the Ukrainian president, Volodimir Zelensky, met virtually with 280 members of the US Congress. and asked them for help to ban the import of oil from Russia, to which many legislators expressed their back.
Although the Russian oil ban has gained support in the US domestically, the European Union (EU) has yet to express its approval.
In an interview this Sunday with CNNthe president of the European Commission (EC), Ursula von der Leyen, who is in Berlin, reiterated her wish that Europe ceases to depend on Russia, diversifies its energy sources and accelerates its investment in renewable energies.
However, he declined to comment on any talks with the US about Russian oil.
The EU depends on Russia for energy supply, as it imports 41% of the natural gas and 27% of the oil it consumes from that country, according to 2019 data from Eurostat.
Unlike the European Union, the US has the capacity to produce its own gas and oil thanks to hydraulic fracturing and other forms of extraction, although it continues to import energy from other countries because its domestic consumption is much greater than internal production.
The United States, however, is much less dependent on Russia and only imports 7.9% of its oil from that country, according to the US Energy Information Administration (EIA). EFE
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Source: Eluniverso
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