The United States announced widespread sanctions against Russia’s energy sector, designating more than 180 ships and two major oil companies just days before outgoing President Joe Biden leaves office.
The designations “fulfill the G7 commitment to reduce Russian revenues from energy,” the US Treasury Department said in a statement, adding that the United Kingdom was also announcing sanctions against the country’s oil and gas sector.
In total, the United States is sanctioning 183 oil-carrying vessels, Russian oil traders and oilfield providers, and two Russian oil majors — Gazprom Neft and Surgutneftegas — along with more than two dozen of their subsidiaries.
They are the most significant sanctions yet to be levied against the country’s energy sector, senior administration officials told reporters, noting that they expect them to cost the Russian economy “upwards” of billions of dollars each month.
They are designed to give the United States additional leverage to help broker a “just peace” between Ukraine and Russia, the officials added.
