(Bloomberg) -- A price cap on Russian oil should go into effect alongside the December implementation of the European Union’s restrictions on insurance for the commodity, a Biden administration official said Wednesday night.

“We are following on what the Europeans have done,” Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo told the Aspen Security Forum in Colorado. “They introduced the idea of looking to do a price cap but they also said that by December they plan to put in place their insurance ban.”

“Our goal is to make sure that as that insurance ban is going into place, we’re in a position where there is a price cap that can be joined on to that that is a global one that helps to drive down global energy prices and also allows Russian energy to flow into the marketplace,” he said.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has been pressing allies on the idea of introducing a price cap on Russian oil, one of President Vladimir Putin’s primary sources of money for his country’s war in Ukraine. Yellen argued that the cap would deprive Putin of much-needed revenue and keep prices from soaring when the insurance ban goes into effect.

The European Union plans to ban seaborne imports of Russian crude and refined fuels by 2023. The mechanism to enforce this ban singles out the insurance companies that indemnify the ships that carry the oil. With few entities offering the specialized insurance and re-insurance to the vessels, the intention is to restrict the flow of oil to the market, which some officials fear could cause a dramatic rise in prices.

Yellen Says Oil-Cap Plan Blunts Concerns Over Russian Reprisals

Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco, who joined Adeyemo on stage in Aspen, said the Justice Department is asking Congress for the authority to go after networks of Russian oligarchs and sanctions evaders using racketeering statutes the agency used to attack the mafia. She said the department’s KleptoCapture task force had seized several yachts, including one on which a rare Faberge egg was discovered.

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