US President Donald Trump The tightening of sanctions against Russia on Thursday and Friday night has not been affected as expected.
In practice, the tightening of sanctions means that the Trump administration gave the lack of payment exceptions to Russian banks, ie the Russians Sperbank, VTB And the Central Bank of Russia was excluded from US payment systems. Exceptions concerned energy -related transactions.
Previous president Joe Biden He ordered an exception to energy transactions because he was afraid of the rise in crude oil prices and the rise of fuels.
Bloomberg news agency According to the experts interviewed, the practical importance of the order is uncertain, as many buyers of Russian energy may have already followed the restrictions. Many have already introduced alternative payment methods that circulate western sanctions.
“This is definitely a tightening of sanctions, but it is about how much this affects the value of the actual oil trade”, former US Treasury official Daniel Tannebaum Comment.
History researcher Jussi Jalonen He estimates that Trump’s order is more about trade policy.
“It’s just about the protectionism of the energy sector,” he writes in X
“Trump wants the world to buy American oil. Drill, Baby, Drill. Russia is a competitor; Oil industry sanctions are included. The same is also the case behind Canada’s anti-Canada actions. Does it work as thought, it’s another story, ”Jalonen continues.
So far, the market price of crude oil has not reacted in practice. The barrel price of American WTI oil on Friday at the end of the trading visit by less than a percent of $ 67.18. The price of the oil quality Brent’s oil quality was quoted at $ 70.58.