Russia has banned the sale of oil and petroleum products to Australia in a shock sweeping executive order signed by Vladimir Putin.
Australia and other G7 nations earlier this month voted to impose a price cap of $60/b for seaborne crude oil from Russia, following suit with other European nations in response to the invasion of Ukraine.
In response, president Putin on Tuesday night announced a sweeping ban on the sale of oil and petroleum to foreign nations who had acted against them.
Australia was one of the nations included on the list.
The Kremlin order comes into force in February next year, lasting until July 1.
The order said it was in response to “unfriendly actions taken by the United States, other foreign states and international organisations that sided with them”.
Australia has already prohibited the import, purchase and transport of Russian oil, gas and refined petroleum products since April.
The country’s decision with G7 nations on December 5 was to “maintain a reliable supply of oil to the global market” and reduce Russia’s revenue, a Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) spokesman said.
But Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky had called the act by Western nations “weak”.
In a video posted on his Facebook, he said Russia had already caused huge losses by “deliberately destabilising” the energy market and the West’s response was “not serious enough” to damage their economy.