Estonian PM: USD 60 price cap on Russian oil important step in helping Ukraine

TALLINN – Member states of the European Union reached a political agreement on Friday establish a cap on the price of Russian crude oil at 60 US dollars per barrel, which, according to Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas, is an important step in supporting Ukraine and stopping the Russian war machine.

"Every dollar counts. Every dollar that was negotiated down means an estimated two billion dollars less income for Russia. The initial proposal was to set the price at 65 dollars. I thank partners who agreed to come down to 60 dollars -- this means 10 billion dollars less for Russia to finance its genocidal war against Ukrainians," Kallas said in a press release.

"It is no secret that we wanted the price to be lower. Our experts estimate that a price between 30-40 dollars is what would substantially hurt Russia. However, this is the best compromise we could get today," she added.

"I am glad partners agreed to Estonia's proposal to review and adjust the price on a regular basis based on the principle to reduce Russian revenues. The agreed condition is also that the price ceiling should be at least 5 percent below the average market price for oil. We will have the first review of the price already in mid-January," the prime minister said.

According to Kallas, the other important part of the compromise is sanctions. "We will move immediately ahead with the ninth package of EU sanctions," she added. 

"Friday's agreement must be seen in the context of the EU’s earlier decisions to curb Russian revenues from fossil fuels since spring. From Monday, Dec. 5, the EU’s embargo on seaborne Russian oil will come into force and two months later the EU-wide ban on Russian oil products will follow. Today's agreement together with these previous EU decisions have already affected the price of Russian oil," the prime minister said.