BRUSSELS — The European Union on Thursday heaped more economic sanctions on Russia, adding to U.S. President Donald Trump’s new punitive measures the previous day against the Russian oil industry. Russian President Vladimir Putin called Washington’s move an “unfriendly act” that could backfire by spiking global oil prices. The American and European sanctions are intended as part of a broadened effort to choke off the revenue and supplies that fuel Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, compelling Putin to negotiate an end to the war. Speaking to reporters in Moscow, Putin acknowledged that the “serious” U.S. sanctions will have “certain consequences” for Russia, but maintained that they will not significantly impact its economy. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who has long campaigned for the international community to punish Russia more comprehensively for attacking his country, hailed the new restrictions. “We waited for this. God bless, it will work. And this is very important,” Zelenskyy said in Brussels, where EU countries attending a summit announced the latest round of Russia sanctions. Despite U.S.-led peace efforts in recent months, the war shows no sign of ending after nearly four years, and European leaders are increasingly concerned about the threat from Russia. Ukrainian forces have struggled to stem slow but steady advances by Russia’s bigger army along a roughly 1,000-kilometre (600-mile) front line that snakes along eastern and southern Ukraine. Almost daily Russian long-range strikes have taken aim at Ukraine’s power grid before the bitter winter, while Ukrainian forces have targeted Russian oil refineries and manufacturing plants. Targeted sanctions Energy revenue is the linchpin of Russia’s economy, allowing Putin to pour money into the armed forces without worsening inflation and avoiding a currency collapse. International crude prices jumped more than US$2 per barrel Thursday on news of the new U.S. sanctions against Russia’s oil giants Rosneft and Lukoil. Putin said he warned Trump that an attempt to curb Russian oil exports will destabilize global oil markets and backfire against the United States. “A sharp reduction in the amounts of our oil and oil products sent to global markets will lead to price increases,” he said, adding that consumers at U.S. gas stations will feel the impact. The sanctions don’t take effect for almost a month, until Nov. 21, potentially giving Putin a chance for a change of heart. Chris Weafer, CEO of the Macro-Advisory Ltd. consultancy, said “that’s a window where they hope Russia will more seriously engage, and if it does, then those sanctions could be suspended.” “You can be sure that every oil buyer in Asia today is trying to find anything that floats that they can buy Russian oil before that sanction kicks in,” Weafer told The Associated Press from London. “And therefore, Russia will sell a lot of oil in the next 30 days, which probably will help the budget for a few months.” He also noted that, unlike the European sanctions, the U.S. measures carry the threat of secondary penalties against anyone violating them. China and India are major importers of Russian oil. The effectiveness of economic sanctions in forcing Putin’s hand is questionable, analysts say. Russia’s economy has proved resilient so far, although it is showing signs of strain. The new EU measures also target Russian oil and gas. They ban imports of Russian liquefied natural gas into the bloc, and add port bans on more than 100 new ships in the Russian shadow fleet of hundreds of aging tankers that are dodging sanctions. The latest sanctions bring the total number of such ships to be banned to 557. The measures also target transactions with a cryptocurrency increasingly used by Russia to circumvent sanctions; prohibit operations in the bloc using Russian payment cards and systems; restrict the provision of artificial intelligence services and high-performance computing services to Russian entities; and widen an export ban to include electronic components, chemicals and metals used in military manufacturing. A new system for limiting the movement of Russian diplomats within the 27-nation EU will also be introduced. Trump-Putin dynamics The U.S. sanctions came after Trump said that his plan for a swift meeting with Putin in Budapest was on hold because he didn’t want it to be a “waste of time.” It was the latest twist in Trump’s hot-and-cold efforts to end the war as Putin refuses to budge from his demands. Putin deplored the U.S. sanctions as an “unfriendly act” that would damage relations with Washington and said that Moscow wouldn’t yield to pressure. “Such action by the U.S. administration certainly damage Russia—U.S. relations,” he said. “It’s an attempt to exert pressure on Russia, but no self-respecting country and self-respecting people make any decisions under pressure.” The Russian leader warned that any attempt by Ukraine to strike deep inside Russia with longer-range weapons supplied by the West will mark an escalation and trigger a “very serious not to say stunning” response from Russia. “Let them think about it,” he said. Commenting on Trump’s decision to put the planned summit on hold, Putin emphasized that it was the U.S. that proposed holding it and added that it should be well prepared. “It would be a mistake for me and the U.S. president to take it lightly and come out after the meeting without an expected result,” he said. “A dialogue is always better than confrontation.” In a separate development, a Russian drone killed two Ukrainian journalists in the Donetsk region Thursday, according to regional administration head Vadym Filashkin. The journalists, Olena Hubanova and Ievhen Karmazin, worked for Ukraine’s Freedom TV channel in Ukraine. ___ Harriet Morris in Tallinn, Estonia, and Illia Novikov in Kyiv, Ukraine, contributed to this report. Lorne Cook, The Associated Press
