The United States on Wednesday imposed hundreds of sanctions targeting Russia in an action that seeks to increase pressure on Moscow in the final days of the Biden administration and protects some of the sanctions it has already imposed ahead of Donald Trump's second presidential term.

President Joe Biden's administration says it's expanding sanctions against Russia's critically important energy sector over its war in Ukraine.

The new sanctions package aims to counteract evasion schemes and strengthen previous measures. The Treasury has reimposed restrictions on nearly 100 organizations, focusing on three key sectors: ・Finance: Including Sberbank,

Oil prices fell back slightly on Thursday, a day after settling at multi-month highs on U.S. President Joe Biden's latest sanctions targeting Russia and a larger than forecast fall in U.S. crude stocks.

Oil-freight derivatives trading surged to the highest in at least a decade as the Biden administration’s sanctions on Russia continued to propel supertanker rates higher.

The White House, now unconcerned about the effect on gas prices and inflation, blacklisted two of Russia’s biggest oil producers and nearly 200 tanker ships.