International Desk: People walk by monitors showing Japan’s Nikkei 225 index at a securities firm in Tokyo, Monday, Dec. 5, 2022. Asian shares were mostly higher and oil prices rose Monday after the European Union and the Group of Seven agreed on a boycott of most Russian oil and a price cap of $60 per barrel on Russian exports. (AP Photo/Hiro Komae)
Western countries on Monday began imposing a $60-per-barrel price cap and ban on some types of Russian oil, part of new measures aimed at stepping up pressure against Moscow over its war on Ukraine, reports The Associated Press.

The European Union, along with Australia, Britain, Canada, Japan and the United States agreed to the price cap on Friday. The move has prompted a rejection from Kremlin and also criticism from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy – whose government wants the cap to be half as high.

The 27-country European bloc also imposed an embargo on Russian oil shipped by sea.

Questions have arisen about just how the Western measures will affect market prices. On Monday, U.S. benchmark crude traded up 90 cents to $80.88.

Many other factors, including COVID-19 prevention measures in China that have crimped its manufacturing, are also having an impact on demand for crude and thus prices. They are far down from a peak earlier during the war.