IfW: US oil embargo against Russia is only symbolic without EU

According to the Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW), the US import ban on Russian oil will hardly harm Russia’s economy. An oil embargo would only become much more effective if the EU also participated in it, it said in a statement on Wednesday, following corresponding model calculations at the institute. „The import stop of Russian oil by the US may be of high symbolic significance,“ said IfW trade researcher Hendrik Mahlkow. „However, it causes practically no economic damage to the Russian economy and therefore has no direct impact on Vladimir Putin’s financial room for maneuver.“