Brussels, Belgium / Kyiv, Ukraine – Renewed energy instability is growing due to the uncontrolled war, pushing oil prices well over $100/barrel, and the G7 Finance Ministers are meeting today to address the crisis. Now, Ukrainian campaign group Razom We Stand is pushing for immediate and long-term solutions to the problems caused by fossil fuel-funded petrodictators like Russia’s Putin, and calling for the strengthening of energy sanctions on Russia, to help quickly end its war of aggression on Ukraine.
The brutal war on Ukraine could be ended soon if Russia’s war economy continues shrinking, and the USA and Europe can easily increase pressure by tightening sanctions, which would force Putin to the negotiating table to deliver a just peace. Russia’s growing deficits are pushing its economy into dire straits, and now is the time to finally exert maximum pressure to end war. Now is not the time for easing energy sanctions on Russia, a backwards idea that allows for prolonging Russia’s brutality, creating further sacrifice of Ukrainian lives.
Dr Svitlana Romanko, Founder and Executive Director of Razom We Stand, said
“As we in Ukraine continue to face daily brutal attacks from Russia, a country funding its horrific war with fossil fuel exports, it’s shocking to hear about any relaxation of energy sanctions against Russia. With the Russian economy on the ropes due to the very effective sanctions that are slowly forcing Russia to the negotiating table, now is the time for “bone-breaking” sanctions that could actually speed things up to end the war started by Russia’s petrodictator Putin.”
“The problem of global reliance on fossil fuels has created instability and economic catastrophe since the OPEC energy crisis of the 1970s, and continues to have terrible ramifications, including more wars, a global air-quality health crisis causing loss of millions, and a worsening climate catastrophe that economists say costs billions. The solution is known; we need more cheap, clean energy for real economic and energy security. The time is now to boost sanctions on Russian fossil fuels, and speed up the transition to secure clean energy.”
As Ukraine slipped from headlines due to a news focus on war in Iran and the Middle-East in the last week, Russia continues to pummel Ukraine with daily rocket and drone attacks, continuing over four years of daily brutal war. Russia and its leader, Putin, have been clearly implicated in up to 150,000 horrific war crimes, as witnessed by the world in places like Bucha or Irpin in 2022, and continuing today. In the past week, Russian strikes have continued to devastate civilian areas: a missile attack on a residential apartment block in Kharkiv killed at least 10 civilians, including children, and wounded many others as part of a massive overnight barrage of missiles and drones across Ukraine.
Razom We Stand encourages the G7, Europe and the USA to take simple actions to end the longest and most brutal war in Europe since World War II:
- Introduce a full and transparent embargo on all Russian LNG gas, especially that from Russia’s Arctic Yamal LNG fields
- Close transit and transhipment loopholes with a strong Maritime Services ban
- Use tougher shadow-fleet enforcement through ship inspections and seizures, as the US, UK, Belgium, France, and Germany are already doing, but inconsistently.
- Closing the refining loophole: ban on imports of oil products from refineries in third countries that process Russian crude oil.
