Will EU oil embargo really hurt Russian war machine?

06.12.2022, 11:53 dw.com

The EU has stopped buying Russian seaborne crude oil as it seeks to deprive Moscow of a key revenue source fueling its war in Ukraine. The move will hurt Russia but not as much as the bloc would have liked.   With the first phase of the European Union's ban on Russian crude oil and petroleum products kicking in on Monday, December 5, European countries will stop buying seaborne crude oil from Russia with limited exceptions, robbing Moscow of revenues that it needs to sustain its war efforts in Ukraine. The embargo comes simultaneously with a price cap backed by the Group of Seven advanced economies on Russian oil, also meant to hurt Russia's oil earnings while ensuring that it does not send oil prices skyrocketing.