(ArabNews, 21.Sep.2022) — Democratic and Republican senators on Tuesday proposed that US President Joe Biden’s administration use secondary sanctions on international banks to strengthen a price cap the Group of Seven countries plan to impose on Russian oil over Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollen and Republican Senator Pat Toomey announced a framework for legislation to impose the secondary sanctions, which would target financial institutions involved in trade finance, insurance, reinsurance and brokerage of Russian oil and petroleum products sold at prices exceeding the cap.
Both senators are members of the Senate Banking Committee, which oversees sanctions policy.
They said the ability to target banks would make it harder for Russia to evade the price cap through deals with countries not formally participating in the G7 scheme.
“If you want to set a worldwide price cap on Russian oil, you need to ensure that it’s uniformly applied. And to do that, we believe you need the backup of the secondary sanctions,” van Hollen said on a call with reporters after a banking committee hearing on Russia sanctions.
“I think the president needs new authority from Congress to enforce the price caps on anyone who buys oil from Russia at a price above the cap that’s been set or in significantly increased volumes,” Toomey said on the call.
The Biden administration has been reluctant to impose secondary sanctions, concerned they could complicate relations with importers of Russian oil like China and India.
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With input from Reuters
