Ukraine's Western allies have the opportunity to strengthen sanctions against Russia in order to deprive the aggressor country of most of the revenues it uses for the war.
This is stated in the material of Apostrophe.
According to preliminary estimates by the Russian Ministry of Finance, in the first quarter of 2024, Russian budget revenues increased significantly, including oil and gas revenues, which amounted to 2.9 trillion rubles ($31 billion), which is 79.1% more than a year ago.
Therefore, Western sanctions should primarily concern Russian oil.
According to Vitaly Shapran, an economist and former member of the National Bank Council, the responsibility for circumventing sanctions lies with the insurers that insure the shadow tanker fleet, primarily Ingosstrakh and RNRC (Russian National Reinsurance Company).
"Reducing the price ceiling to $40-50 and diplomatic efforts in India to get the country to refuse to buy oil above the price ceiling set by the G-7," he said.
At the same time, even if Russia retains some of its revenues as a result of increased sanctions pressure, they will still decline significantly. And thus, its ability to finance the war against Ukraine will decrease.
Earlier, Apostrophe wrote that Russians are prohibited from conducting financial business in Switzerland and other European countries, in particular, carrying out operations in cryptocurrency and other financial operations.