US President Donald Trump has sanctioned two Russian oil giants, both multi-billion-dollar firms, in a bid to pressure Moscow into signing a peace deal with Ukraine. The sanctions may not hit Russia’s domestic supply, but they could hurt its exports. Russia exports about four million barrels of oil every day — and Rosneft and Lukoil account for nearly half of that. Following the announcement, oil prices jumped by more than 5% today. As expected, Russia has condemned the move, calling it “counterproductive”. “We view this step as extremely counterproductive. It sends bad signal in terms of reaching significant negotiation progress on Ukrainian conflict settlement. If current US administration starts to take their predecessors as example, that tried to make Russia abandon its national interests with illegal sanctions, the result will be absolutely the same,” said Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova. Will Trump’s tactic work? And what’s the emerging Western strategy against Russia? On Vantage tonight, Palki Sharma brings you the answers.
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Credit to : Firstpost