Ukrainian Official Calls for More Sanctions, Global Embargo on Russian Oil
Ukraine’s chief economic official this week called for maximum financial sanctions against Russia and a global embargo on the country's oil and energy products, saying the revenue is helping Russia’s military kill Ukrainian civilians. Oleg Ustenko, the chief economic adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, also urged countries to send Ukraine more weapons and ammunition for its army.
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Ustenko, speaking during a March 10 event hosted by the Peterson Institute for International Economics, applauded the Biden administration for announcing a ban on Russian oil imports and said other countries need to do the same. “What really needs to be done is to introduce a full embargo worldwide on Russian oil and gas,” Ustenko said. “This is blood money which Europeans are still paying [Russia] in order to kill our people.”
He said countries should strictly penalize private companies that buy oil from Russia. “If we have evidence that somebody, any private company, is buying that kind of oil from [Russian President Vladimir] Putin, then we will make all efforts in order to destroy the shareholder value of that company,” Ustenko said. “This should be a common initiative all over the world.”
He also said Ukraine needs more weapons. The U.S. has expedited certain defense exports and other forms of military aid to Ukraine, but the Pentagon this week said the U.S. won't send fighter aircraft. “What we need most of all is more weapons and ammunition for our army,” Ustenko said. “This is critically important.”
The U.S. is providing Ukraine with "massive amounts of security assistance" and is prioritizing exports of missile defense systems and weapons to shoot down Russian planes, State Department spokesperson Ned Price said during a March 10 news conference. But Price reiterated that the U.S. won't send aircraft because the planes won't help the Ukranian military defend itself from Russian missiles, and because Moscow may see the provision of fighter jets as "escalatory."
Price's comments came after Poland offered to transfer fighter jets to a U.S. Air Force base in Germany and ultimately to Russia. "Individual countries are going to continue to make their sovereign decisions in terms of the assistance to provide," Price said. But "the provision of Polish planes, by way of a U.S. and [North American Treaty Organization] airbase by way of the United States, is not something that we're in a position to do at this time."
Price said the U.S. will continue to send defense items to Ukraine and is "determining what more we might be able to do to effectively equip our Ukrainian partners to take this on." He also said the administration is considering more "devastating sanctions," adding that the current measures have already crippled Russia's economy.
"We've imposed massive consequences on [President Vladimir] Putin and his cronies for their aggression," Price said, adding that more than 300 companies have ceased operations in Russia since the sanctions were announced (see 2203070039). "The severity of these unprecedented measures is already having a dramatic impact," he said, "and the ruble has gone through the floor. It is close to worthless."