Moscow will cover Russian oil tankers hit by UK and EU insurance ban, Putin ally says
Vladimir Putin’s right-hand man has said Moscow will cover Russian oil tankers to ensure they are able to continue making deliveries, if they are unable to get insurance due to Western sanctions.
Speaking via messenger platform Telegram, former Russian president and key Putin ally Dmitry Medvedev said the Kremlin will cover uninsured ships, through assurances based on trade agreements between Moscow and importing countries.
The comments come after the UK and EU last week approved plans to ban insurers from covering Russian oil tankers, as a means of hindering Russia’s oil export industry.
Medvedev brushed aside the potential impacts of the UK and EU insurance ban, as the deputy head of Russia’s Security Council said Russia’s insurance “has been solved”.
“The issue of insurance procurement can be solved by means of a government assurance under the framework of multinational agreements with third countries,” Medvedev said.
The insurance ban comes as a means of further hindering Russia’s oil export industry, as Chinese and Indian buyers have increasingly begun picking up cheap shipments of Russian oil.
The pivot to the east comes after the EU agreed to block 90 per cent of all Russian oil imports into the European trading bloc.