US President Biden. Figure: Flip through Biden’s Twitter (file photo)
Since Russia launched a special military operation once morest Ukraine, Western countries have imposed sanctions on Russia, but recently there has been news that the United States has privately increased Russian oil imports. In response, U.S. President Biden responded that he would consider buying Russian oil at a low price if the U.S. domestic oil price might not be lowered in the short term. However, the Russian side said it would not do any loss-making business.
According to a report by the Russian Satellite News Agency on the 1st, in the list of U.S. oil suppliers, Russia rose from the ninth place to the sixth place in March, supplying 4.218 million barrels of oil to the United States. The latest data released by the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) showed that the US purchased 17.825 million barrels of oil from Russia in March, an increase of 10.9% and 103.5% from February and January, respectively.
The “Russia Today” report pointed out that as early as March 8, the United States announced an embargo on Russian energy and stopped imports of Russian oil, natural gas and coal, but the US Treasury Department set the date for the final import of oil, liquefied natural gas and coal to Russia. on April 22nd.
In this regard, the Deputy Secretary-General of the Russian Federal Security Council Mikhail. “The US forces Europe to impose sanctions on Russia, while they themselves not only maintain the practice of importing oil from Russia, but are also increasing their imports, which reached 100,000 barrels per day in March,” Popov said.
Biden said on June 1 that the U.S. government is considering buying Russian oil “below the market price” because oil prices have soared and cannot fall in the short term. However, Russian Presidential Press Secretary Peskov said on the 2nd that even if sanctions cause trouble for Russia, Russia will not sell anything at a loss.
At the same time, the European Union, which is most dependent on Russian oil, passed the sixth round of sanctions once morest Russia, announcing a ban on the import of 75% of Russian oil. The New York Times pointed out: “The EU agreed yesterday to ban the import of most Russian oil, which is the most severe economic sanctions once morest Russia, and in fact the biggest self-sacrifice Europe has made.”
Europe used to be the biggest customer of Russian energy imports, and EU officials said the economic sanctions would raise the financial cost of EU countries and plan to raise prices for other commodities in the future, not ruling out shortages of natural gas and oil.
In response to the U.S. approach, netizens said: “This kind of operation is very American!”, “So the EU is watching all this happen? You take all the benefits from the United States and make me bear the pain?”
Since Russia launched a special military operation once morest Ukraine, Western countries have imposed sanctions on Russia, but recently there has been news that the United States has privately increased Russian oil imports.
In response, U.S. President Biden responded by considering buying Russian oil at a low price if oil prices might not be lowered in the short term.
However, the Russian side said it would not do any loss-making business.
The Russian-Ukrainian war caused severe inflation in the United States and the West. The picture shows a resident of Berlin, Germany refueling at a gas station.Figure: Retrieved from Xinhuanet
Western countries have imposed sanctions on Russia, but recently there has been news that the United States has privately increased Russian oil imports. (The picture shows Rosneft gas station). Photo: Rosneft gas station (taken from Twitter Photography: A.Savin)
