West adopts double standard on sanctions as weapons

The average price of Russian crude oil exported in October was above $80 a barrel, according to the export data the country released. A senior European government official confirmed to the Financial Times that "almost none" of the shipments of seaborne crude oil from Russia in October were priced below the $60-a-barrel limit that the G7 and its allies have attempted to impose.

That means the United States-led price cap on Russia's oil sales, which is an integral part of the West's sanctions on Russia in a bid to end the Russia-Ukraine conflict at an early date, is being almost completely circumvented. It is no coincidence that some Western media are now trying to hype up the news that way, as relevant European Union officials are in discussions on strengthening the sanctions. These timely reports provide the EU and Washington with convenient excuses to explore ways to reinforce the oil price cap on Moscow.

"The latest data makes the case that we're going to have to toughen up ... there's absolutely no appetite for letting Russia just keep doing this," as the aforementioned anonymous EU official was quoted by the FT as saying.

Neither the US nor the EU will ever admit that they have actually never ceased importing large amounts of Russian oil via third-party countries, such as India, where the crude oil is processed and sold around the world. That trade model does not break their sanction policies on Russia, as the oil is deemed to be exported by India. The West's price cap on Russian crude oil has benefited countries such as India tremendously, as it has enlarged the profit margin for them.

But the US and the EU still claim they are sticking to the sanctions and insist on weaponizing them to coerce other countries to align their actions and policies with them. If the US says that other countries are violating the sanctions on Russia, which have no legal foundation in international law and are approved by no world bodies, it will go even further and impose new sanctions, embargoes and restrictions on these countries.

That is Washington's justification for putting hundreds of enterprises from China on various blacklists in recent years.

The double standard of the US and the EU on these sanctions is thus beyond all question.