The U.S. and EU Cut off Aid to Russian Oil Exploration

The United States and the European Union moved Friday to shut down Western aid to Russian deepwater, Arctic offshore, and shale oil exploration, broadening and deepening the range of sanctions imposed on Moscow in retaliation for its intervention in Ukraine despite the potential cost to Western firms like Exxon Mobil and BP.

Here's a map of the oil and gas fields in the Arctic Ocean on
which Russia has its eyes. CLICK MAP to ENLARGE

With twin announcements in Washington and Brussels, the new measures targeting Russia’s energy development came in addition to further limits on access to US and European capital markets, making it harder for Russian banks to obtain any credit in foreign capitals beyond short-term loans. The United States specifically targeted Russia’s largest bank, Sberbank, for the first time.

The Europeans also banned travel by and froze the assets of 24 more individuals, including Russian lawmakers and others who have supported President Vladimir Putin over Ukraine, while the Americans blocked the assets of five Russian state-owned defense technology firms. Also targeted was the Russian defense conglomerate Rostec and its leadership, even as its subsidiary plans to build energy plants in Crimea, the autonomous Ukrainian region that was annexed by Moscow this year in an action still rejected by the outside world.

The measures were enacted despite a fragile cease-fire between pro-Russian rebels and Ukrainian government forces that took effect last week in eastern Ukraine, and officials on both sides of the Atlantic emphasized that they could be rolled back if Russia took more significant moves to settle the violent dispute there. EU officials specifically plan to review their sanctions before the end of the month and could revise them if the peace holds.

European leaders agreed last month to impose new sanctions on Russia but held off putting them into place amid calls by some countries to wait to see how the cease-fire played out. But the European Council, a body representing EU members, cited the “gravity of the situation” in a notice in its Official Journal announcing the measures Friday and said it “considers it appropriate to take further restrictive measures in response to Russia’s action destabilizing the situation in Ukraine.”

Read the rest of the story HERE.

If you like what you see, please "Like" us on Facebook either here or here. Please follow us on Twitter here.