Russia’s response to oil price cap expected soon, details being finalized — Kremlin

MOSCOW, December 16. /TASS/. Russia’s response to the Western oil price cap is expected soon, all details are being finalized, Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Friday. "The last points are being finalized. We expect it to [be ready] soon," he said. Vladimir Putin told reporters on Friday that Russia is considering cutting oil production as one of the measures in response to the decision of Western countries to introduce a price cap. "As for our reaction, I have already talked about it - we simply will not sell to the countries that make such decisions. We will think about the possibility of production cuts, if necessary. We have an agreement with OPEC+ on a well-known production target. We will think of something additional, if we need it. I mean Russia specifically," Putin said. According to him, Russia is now considering various options for responding, the final version will soon be set in a presidential decree. "We are thinking about it. There are no decisions yet. Specific measures will be set in the presidential decree, which will be issued in the next few days," Putin said. Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said earlier that the Russian Finance Ministry considers it too early to assess the effect on the budget from the introduction of a price cap on Russian oil, but Russia is preparing retaliatory measures. "So far, it is too early to talk about the impact on the budget. We are now preparing retaliatory, reciprocal measures regarding how our companies will react to the introduction of the price cap," Siluanov said. He noted that such measures will be announced in the near future. The minister called the introduction of a price cap a non-market measure that would have implications for the world market. On December 5, an embargo on maritime Russian oil shipments to the European Union came into force. Moreover, EU states also agreed on a price cap for Russian oil delivered by sea, setting the ceiling at $60 a barrel. A similar decision was announced by the G7 and Australia. The West is also banning its companies from providing transport, financial and insurance services to tankers carrying oil from Russia at a price above the agreed-on ceiling. Read more