White House defends not placing sanctions on Russia’s energy sector amidst ongoing invasion of Ukraine

During Thursday’s White House press conference, Press Secretary Jen Psaki responded to calls urging the banning of Russian oil or placing sanctions on the country's energy sector amidst the country’s invasion of Ukraine.

"Well, our objective and the President’s objective has been to maximize impact on President Putin in Russia while minimizing impact to us and our allies and partners," Psaki said in response to a question regarding Pelosi and others calling to ban Russia oil, with Putin benefiting from the profits of the energy sector.

"And I know you’ve heard me say this a few times before, but we don’t have a strategic interest in reducing the global supply of energy," Psaki continued. "And that would raise prices at the gas pump for the American people around the world, because it would reduce the supply available and it’s as simple as; less supply raises prices."

Psaki continued on to say that that point is "certainly a big factor" for the President to consider at this point.

"It also has the potential to pad the pockets of President Putin, which is exactly what we are not trying to do," said Psaki.

"So, as the President has said, we carved out payments for energy, trade, and transport from our financial sectors sanctions," she said. "With that in mind, I would also note that we are also taking — we have been taking steps to degrade Russia’s status as a leading energy supplier over time."

She said this includes shutting down the nation’s Nord Stream 2 Pipeline, surging the sending of liquified natural gas to Europe "to help accelerate its diversification from Russian gas," and "we are continuing to look at other options we could take right now to cut US consumption of Russian energy."

"I mean, for us, if you look at publicly available data, it’s only about 10 percent of our imports," Psaki noted. "But again, reducing the supply out there would have an impact on prices and on prices at the gas pump."

In a follow-up question, Associated Press White House correspondent Colleen Long asked if "oil is already so expensive, isn’t he already benefiting from… the already costly price of oil?"

"If it reduces further, it makes it more expensive," said Psaki. "So I think we look at it through that prism."

Later in the press conference, Psaki was asked: "So as long as we’re buying Russian oil though, aren’t we financing the war?"

"Again, it’s only about 10 percent of what we’re importing," Psaki stressed. "I’ve not made any announcement about any decision on that front, but our objective here and our focus is making sure that any step we take maximizes the impact on President Putin and minimizes it on the American people. And anyone who’s calling for an end to the carve out should be clear that that would raise prices."