Putin bans Russian oil exports to price cap endorsers
Russian President Vladimir Putin chairs a meeting with leadership of military-industrial complex enterprises in Tula, Russia Dec. 23, 2022. (Sputnik/Russian Presidential Press Office/Kremlin via Reuters)


President Vladimir Putin signed a decree banning the supply of oil and oil products in response to the EU price cap from Feb. 1 for five months.

The Group of Seven major powers, the European Union and Australia agreed this month to a $60-per-barrel price cap on Russian seaborne crude oil effective from Dec. 5 over Moscow's "special military operation" in Ukraine.

The Kremlin's decree stated: "This...comes into force on Feb. 1, 2023, and applies until July 1, 2023."

Crude oil exports will be banned from Feb. 1, but the date for the oil products ban will be determined by the Russian government and could be after Feb. 1.

The decree includes a clause that allows Putin to overrule the ban in special cases.