The expert warned of a “trouble” in the oil market due to the price limit

MOSCOW, 4 Oct — PRIME. Limiting the cost of Russian oil is political and threatens to disorientate the global market for this energy resource, causing a stir, Ivan Timofeev, program director of the Russian International Affairs Council, has warned.

“All this is fraught with turmoil in the world market. Prices can get out of control, which will lead to an increase in inflation, with all the ensuing consequences,” he told RIA Novosti.

The expert noted that Western countries, when deciding on the introduction of a price threshold, behave “like classical Marxist-Leninists”: they interfere in the market economy, imposing artificial restrictions on it.

Timofeev suggests that the ceiling could be as high as $50 per barrel, although there are still no concrete figures in official documents.

“If so, then nothing extremely terrible for Russia will happen. After all, being under sanctions, our country has long been selling oil to Asia at approximately the same price,” he said.

At the same time, it is better for Moscow not to be inactive, but to take retaliatory measures in order to mitigate a possible blow, the expert believes. As such steps, Timofeev called the acceleration of the transition to payments for oil in a “non-toxic” currency and the build-up of work on the creation of a domestic tanker fleet.

Earlier on Monday, Reuters reported, citing a spokesman for the US Treasury, that the G7 countries are preparing new sanctions against Russia, including limiting oil prices. According to the information, restrictions will be introduced in three stages, for crude oil and oil products they will come into effect from December 5.