Russia is circumventing sanctions and the US price cap on oil sales. This is forcing Western countries to look for ways to strengthen one of their key economic restrictions against Russia, the Financial Times reports.

A senior European government official told the newspaper that "almost none" of the oil shipments by sea in October fell below the $60 per barrel limit.

"The latest data suggests that we will have to step up our measures. There is absolutely no desire to allow Russia to continue doing this," the official said.

The publication notes that the concern of Western officials is supported by official Russian statistics on oil sales in October. The average price received exceeded $80 per barrel. Thus, the jump in Russian prices has dealt a blow to the G7's attempts to limit the flow of funds to the Kremlin to finance a full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Reportedly, in August, almost three-quarters of all maritime oil flows from Russia went without Western insurance. In October, only 37 of 134 vessels had it. Some Western insurance companies have received false declarations from Russian oil companies or traders who were supposed to provide written assurances that the price of oil was below $60. One of the mechanisms by which this has been achieved in the past is by increasing shipping costs.