Washington has demanded that Kiev stop strikes on Russian oil refineries as it has a negative impact on US President Joe Biden’s election campaign. This was reported by The Financial Times newspaper citing sources.
“The USA has urged Ukraine to stop attacking Russia’s energy infrastructure, warning that drone strikes could lead to a rise in global oil prices and provoke retaliatory measures,” the newspaper’s sources said.
The piece emphasised that repeated warnings from Washington had been conveyed to high-ranking officials of the SBU and the Defense Ministry’s GSD. The newspaper’s source said that the White House was increasingly frustrated by “brazen” Ukrainian drone attacks on oil refineries, terminals, warehouses and storage facilities in western Russia.
In turn, The Financial Times emphasised that Russia remains one of the world’s most important energy exporters despite Western sanctions. Oil prices have risen about 15 per cent this year to $85 a barrel, driving fuel prices up just as Joe Biden begins his re-election campaign.
“Nothing scares a sitting American president more than a sharp rise in petrol prices in an election year,” explained former White House energy adviser Bob McNally.
The newspaper specified that Washington was also concerned that if Ukraine continued to strike Russian facilities, including those “hundreds of miles from the border”, Russia might “retaliate” against the energy infrastructure that the West relies on.
“We do not encourage or allow attacks inside Russia,” a representative of the US National Security Council stated.
We shall remind you that the Financial Times earlier mentioned that Western elite units were present on the territory of Ukraine, but this was simply not officially announced.