By Guy Faulconbridge — Reuters, Wednesday 9 March 2022
LONDON (Reuters) — The Kremlin accused The United States on Wednesday of declaring an economic war on Russia that was sowing mayhem through energy markets, and put Washington on notice it was considering its response to a ban on Russian oil and energy. The West’s attempt to cut off Russia — one of the world’s biggest exporters of oil, gas and metals — has hit commodity markets and raised the spectre of spiralling inflation across the world.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov cast the West’s sanctions as a hostile act that had roiled global markets. “You see the bacchanalia, the hostile bacchanalia, which the West has sown — and that of course makes the situation very difficult and forces us to think seriously,” Peskov told reporters. He declined to outline the exact nature of Russia’s response, but noted: “The United States definitely has declared economic war against Russia and is waging this war.”
Russia said on Monday that oil prices could shoot up to over $300 per barrel if The United States and European Union banned imports of crude from Russia. Brent hit $139 on Monday, its highest since 2008. Russia supplies around 30% of Europe’s oil, or 150 million tonnes annually, as well as 80 million tonnes of petrochemicals. Russia’s economy is facing the gravest crisis since the 1991 fall of the Soviet Union after the West imposed heavy sanctions on almost the entire Russian financial and corporate system following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. President Putin will hold a meeting with the government to discuss minimising the impact of sanctions.