At $60 per barrel, rather than $30 as Ukraine wanted. Due to current market conditions including China’s economic slowdown, Russia’s crude has already been selling for around $60 a barrel, a deep discount from international benchmark Brent, which closed Friday at $85.42 per barrel, so the shift may be moot - except for Russian requirement for retaliation.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia needed to analyze the situation before deciding on a specific response but that it would not accept the price ceiling. Russia’s permanent representative to international organizations in Vienna, Mikhail Ulyanov, warned that the cap’s European backers would come to rue their decision.
The Russian Embassy in Washington insisted that Russian oil “will continue to be in demand” and criticized the price limit as “reshaping the basic principles of the functioning of free markets.” A post on the embassy’s Telegram channel predicted the per-barrel cap would lead to “a widespread increase in uncertainty and higher costs for consumers of raw materials.” (I would point out that, in a free market, the price is only set by a mutual agreement between buyer and seller - and either party is welcome to hold their breath until the other agrees)
Jeff