Putin says US oil sanctions won't affect Russian economy

MOSCOW — United States' sanctions on Russian oil companies will not significantly impact Russia's economic health, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday.

The US Treasury Department on Wednesday announced sanctions on Russia's two largest oil producers, Rosneft and Lukoil, which together account for more than 5 percent of global oil output and roughly half of Russia's oil exports, which, along with natural gas and oil products, have supplied 30 to 50 percent of state revenues in the past decade.

The sanctions don't take effect for almost a month, until Nov 21.

Putin called the sanctions "an attempt to put pressure on Russia" and "unfriendly", adding that they do not strengthen Russia-US relations.

Putin said he warned US President Donald Trump that an attempt to curb Russian oil exports would destabilize global oil markets and backfire against the US.

"A sharp reduction in the amounts of our oil and oil products sent to global markets will lead to price increases," he said, adding that consumers at US gas stations will feel the impact.

US oil prices rose by 5 percent to $61.44 per barrel on Thursday, and international benchmark Brent rose 4.7 percent to $65.52.

Chris Weafer, CEO of the Macro-Advisory consultancy, said the biggest takeaway was Trump's willingness to add sanctions to those imposed under the Biden administration.

"This is the first set of sanctions from President Trump after he returned to the White House," said Weafer. "And the fear now is that now that he's broken, kind of like the seal, as it were, that if he is dissatisfied with any progress with Russia going forward, then he may come with more and more damaging sanctions."

Trump, in his latest about-face on the conflict, said on Wednesday that the planned Putin summit in Budapest was off because it would not achieve the outcome he wanted and complained that his many "good conversations" with Putin did not "go anywhere".

On Trump's remarks that he had canceled the planned meeting, Putin said Russia has always supported continued dialogue.

He added that it would be a mistake to approach the Russia-US summit without preparation.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky hailed the sanctions as "very important", but that more pressure would be needed on Moscow to get it to agree to a ceasefire.

The European Union also adopted its 19th package of Russia sanctions on Thursday, banning imports of Russian liquefied natural gas and targeting entities. The EU added sanctions on Rosneft and sanctioned 117 more tankers.

Agencies Via Xinhua