Russian diplomat calls West main enemy of market economy

VIENNA,SANA-The West is the main enemy of the market economy, Russia’s Permanent Representative to the Vienna-based international organizations Mikhail Ulyanov said in Thursday, commenting on the European Union’s plans to impose a price cap on oil.

“The West is the main enemy of the market economy. They want to establish price cap on import of Russian oil and gas. Totalitarianism is expanded to economic sphere by the West. Fruitless efforts. Moscow has already said that it would not export oil and gas on this condition,” he wrote on his Twitter account.

Bloomberg reported earlier citing its sources that the European Union in coordination with the Group of Seven is looking at a price cap on Russian oil at a level of 65-70 US dollars per barrel.

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said on October 13 that Moscow would not export oil to countries who would impose a price cap on Russian oil. “The price should formed by market means, based on the balance of demand and supply,” he said at the Russian Energy Week forum.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on October 12 that Moscow was not going to pay for somebody else’s prosperity and export its energy resources to those who impose price caps on them. He called the practice of price caps “cardsharp tricks” and “flagrant blackmail.” Apart from that, in his speech at the Russian Energy Week, the president warned that price capping oil is fraught with the risks of setting price caps in other sectors, which is harmful for the global market economy and the wellbeing of billions of people.

Source/TASS

Manar Salameh/ Ruaa al-Jazaeri