Ukraine envoy says Russia could buckle if oil revenue is halved

SINGAPORE — Ukraine's sanctions envoy said Russia could be forced to retreat from the war within six months if its oil revenues are halved, as he pressed governments across Asia to shut down loopholes letting Russian tankers and weapons components slip through the region undetected.

Vladyslav Vlasiuk, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's commissioner for sanctions policy, said during his trip in Singapore on Tuesday that sanctions remain the most effective lever to force Moscow into serious peace talks.

"Sanction is a really good way to force the Russian side to start talking," Vlasiuk said in remarks to media at Ukraine's Embassy in Singapore. "We also believe that sanctions so far caused a lot of difficulties for the Russian economy — a lot of constraints, a change of dynamics."