On Tuesday, President Biden announced that the United States will ban the import of Russian oil in the latest attempt to squeeze the country’s finances and push it to end its war on Ukraine. “The United States is targeting the main artery of the Russian economy,” Biden said during a press conference announcing the decision, noting that it is a “step we are taking to inflict further pain on [Vladimir] Putin.”
The move is a significant one — and one that experts have been calling for as potentially the most powerful way to cripple Russia’s economy. Russia exports about 5 million barrels of crude oil per day, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Gas and oil sales make up nearly 40% of Russia’s federal budget revenue and account for nearly 15% of the country’s GDP, according to expert analysis. Cutting off that source of revenue could have a major impact on the Russian economy, which is already in a near-freefall due to sanctions put in place by the U.S. and the European Union.
