The expert stated the populist nature of the US duties of 500% on oil from the Russian Federation.

A bill drafted in the United States on duties of 500% for countries that will buy oil from Russia is populist in nature. This was stated by Valery Andrianov, an associate professor at the Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation, in an interview with Izvestia on May 1.

On May 1, Bloomberg reported that 72 out of 100 members of the U.S. Senate supported a bill proposing to impose duties at a rate of 500% on goods from countries that buy Russian hydrocarbons, fuel and uranium. In addition, the draft prohibits operations with the sovereign debt of the Russian Federation (purchase of federal loan bonds).

According to the initiator of the draft, Republican Lindsey Graham (listed by the Russian Federation as an extremist and terrorist), the bill should help Trump in negotiations with Moscow on the Ukrainian conflict.

According to Andrianov, this bill is absolutely populist in nature and does not take into account the realities of the global oil market.

"Russia is one of the three largest oil producers and is one of its leading exporters, therefore, its "deletion" from the global energy balance would mean the beginning of a global energy crisis and would lead to a rise in quotations of black gold to record levels. I wonder how the senator would explain to his constituents the several—fold increase in fuel prices at American gas stations?" the expert asks.

According to him, the figures of 500% only look beautiful, but in fact they are absolutely meaningless. For example, 140% duties have already been imposed on China, and both 140% and 500% do not matter. In both cases, this means a complete cessation of trading.

"You can write at least a million percent in the bill to promote yourself and surprise the public. Such fantastic figures mean that China, one of the leading buyers of Russian oil, will not pay any attention to them. Why be afraid of sanctions over purchases of Russian oil, if prohibitive barriers to trade already exist "on their own." Such steps clearly do not "help" Trump in negotiations with Russia, but rather make them more difficult. They remind us once again that we should not rely too much on the promises of the United States, since Washington's course is constantly changing, and anti-Russian forces inside the United States remain extremely influential," the Izvestia interlocutor concludes.

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On April 27, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that the American side was not expanding sanctions against Russia in order not to interfere with the peace process on the conflict in Ukraine. According to him, Washington hopes that efforts for a peaceful settlement will work in a diplomatic manner to bring the two sides closer.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on April 24 that Russia appreciates the mediation services provided by US President Donald Trump and his team in the process of negotiations on a peaceful resolution of the Ukrainian conflict.