A senior US State Department official has accused Russia of using energy as a "malign actor," but refrained from commenting on the possibility of imposing new sanctions
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 21st March, 2020) A senior US State Department official has accused Russia of using energy as a "malign actor," but refrained from commenting on the possibility of imposing new sanctions.
The Wall Street Journal previously reported, citing sources, that the White House was considering intervention in the oil market via sanctions against Russia and diplomatic leverage to force Saudi Arabia to reduce crude production. On Thursday reports emerged, claiming that the US would intervene in the market standoff between Russia and Saudi Arabia "at the appropriate time."
"We don't speak about sanctions. We don't forward-look sanctions. That's starkly against our policy to speak about that, so I'm not going to comment on that. We continue to - I've identified multiple instances, not just the - we here at the department or within the Executive Branch, but also Congress has also cited multiple instances where Russia has used energy as a malign actor, used it for malign purposes, and I'll just let that stand for itself," the official said at a special briefing when asked about the possibility of using sanctions against Russia to stabilize oil prices.
He also noted that the United States does not enter into discussions on the further development of the situation with individual states, but calls on all countries to take "responsible measures."
"We urge all players to pay attention to the current moment of global uncertainty and economic turmoil and take responsible measures so that we can overcome them together," he said.
Oil prices halved since early March due to the expected demand slump due to the breakup of the OPEC+ oil output cut deal and amid the coronavirus outbreak. After OPEC+ states failed to agree, market analysts began to predict a "price war" between main exporters. According to media reports, Saudi Arabia is trying to eat off Russia's share on its traditional European markets, offering oil with huge discounts. The kingdom officially announced an increase in oil shipments in April to 12.3 million barrels per day, 300,000 barrels per day higher than its production capacity. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Friday that Russia and Saudi Arabia were not waging price wars on the oil market, explaining that the market slump was due to "unfavorable situation globally."
