One of the major paradoxes about the West’s response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has been that, despite imposing sanctions on Russia and arming Ukraine, the West has continued to purchase Russian natural gas and oil. The revenue from those purchases is crucial to help Russia finance its ongoing invasion of Ukraine. With Russia being the world’s second largest exporter of oil, an outright ban is considered impossible: it would cause drastic spikes in global oil prices and alienate countries like India that the West hopes will keep pressure on Moscow. So, eight months into the war the EU and G7 are instead seeking to cap the revenus that Vladimir Putin can gain from his vast natural resources.