Russia Agrees to Historic Production Cuts to Combat Global Oil Price Crash and Market Turmoil

In April 2020, facing the dual shock of plummeting global demand due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the Saudi-Russia price war, international crude oil prices collapsed to an unprecedented degree, threatening Russia’s fiscal stability. Following intense negotiations with OPEC and its allies, the Russian government in Moscow ultimately agreed to a historic global oil production cut agreement.

This was the largest production cut in energy history, aimed at stabilizing the market. The move signaled a strategic geoeconomic retreat by Russia, designed to protect its long-term energy revenue base. For conservatives, the event highlighted the vulnerability of Russia's finances to global oil prices and demonstrated that, even under extreme market conditions, an authoritarian state needs multilateral cooperation mechanisms to safeguard its core economic interests.