The U.S. Department of the Treasury building is seen in Washington, Nov. 18, 2024. The U.S. Treasury Department announced that it is expanding sanctions against the Russian energy sector for its nearly three-year old war in Ukraine. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana, File)2025-01-10T15:32:11Z WASHINGTON (AP) President Joe Bidens administration announced Friday that its expanding sanctions against Russias critically important energy sector, unveiling a new effort to inflict pain on Moscow for its grinding war in Ukraine as President-elect Donald Trump gets set to return to office vowing to quickly end the conflict.The outgoing Democratic administration billed the new sanctions as the most significant to date against Moscows oil and liquefied natural gas sectors, the driver of Russias economy. Officials said the sanctions, which punish entities that do business with the Russians, have the potential to cost the Russian economy upward of billions of dollars per month. More than 180 oil-carrying vessels that are suspected to be part of a shadow fleet utilized by the Kremlin to evade oil sanctions as well as traders, oil field service firms and Russian energy officials are also targeted by the new sanctions. Several of the vessels targeted are also suspected of shipping sanctioned Iranian oil, according to the Treasury Department. The United States is taking sweeping action against Russias key source of revenue for funding its brutal and illegal war against Ukraine, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said in a statement. With todays actions, we are ratcheting up the sanctions risk associated with Russias oil trade, including shipping and financial facilitation in support of Russias oil exports. In a move coordinated with Washington, the U.K. also slapped sanctions on Russian energy firms. The U.S. and Britain are both targeting two of Russias major oil producers, Gazprom Neft and Surgutneftegas, and dozens of the companies subsidiaries. The Foreign Office said that between them the two companies produce more than 1 million barrels of oil a day, worth $23 billion a year. British Foreign Secretary David Lammy said oil revenues are the lifeblood of Putins war economy. Taking on Russian oil companies will drain Russias war chest and every ruble we take from Putins hands helps save Ukrainian lives, he said.The U.K. has already sanctioned almost 100 vessels in Russias oil-transporting shadow fleet as Ukraines Western allies seeking to increase economic pressure on Moscow ahead of any negotiations on ending the war.White House national security spokesman John Kirby said the Biden administration chose this momentjust 10 days before Biden leaves officefor tougher oil measures because worries about world oil markets have subsided.This was really based on market conditions, Kirby said. And so the time was propitious for this decision, and thats why the president made it.The State Department also announced it was hitting 14 senior Rosatom officials and executives with travel bans that also affect their immediate family members.Biden administration officials said that it will ultimately be up to Trumps administration whether to keep or scrap the new sanctions. Trumps transition team did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the sanctions. Asked if the Biden administration consulted with the incoming Trump team, Kirby responded, We have at every step and on every major issue been keeping the transition team informed of our decisions, what were doing and why were doing it.Trumps incoming national security adviser, Mike Waltz, wrote in an opinion piece for the Economist published shortly before Election Day that the U.S. should use economic leverage for cracking down on Russias illicit oil sales to bring Russian President Vladimir Putin to the negotiating table.Meanwhile, Trump told reporters on Thursday that Putin wants to meet, and we are setting it up.Trumps warm relationship with Putin over the years has come under heavy scrutiny. The Republican president-elect has also balked at the cost of aid to Kyiv, pledging to move quickly to end the conflict upon his return to office on Jan. 20.Trump added a new layer of doubt about future American support earlier this week when he appeared to sympathize with Putins position that Ukraine should not be part of NATO. The president-elect has criticized the Biden administration for expressing support for Kyivs eventual membership in the transatlantic military alliance. White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan on Friday warned that a pullback in support for Ukraine would have reverberations far beyond Kyiv. He noted that the U.S. has relied on European allies cooperation over the last four years as it devised a strategy to deal with growing economic competition posed by China.I think its evident that if the U.S. pulls the rug out from under Ukraine, that will have an impact on the health of our European alliances and it will have reverberations in the Indo-Pacific, Sullivan said in a conversation with a small group of reporters at the White House. The Kremlin on Friday dismissed the new sanctions ahead of the anticipated announcement.We are aware that the administration will try to leave as difficult legacy in bilateral relations as possible for Trump and his team, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. The designation comes under a sanctions authority approved during Russias 2014 invasion and annexation of Ukraines Crimea peninsula, according to administration officials who briefed reporters on the the condition of anonymity under ground rules set by the White House.Should the Trump administration move to roll back the sanctions, it would have to first notify Congress, which would have the ability to take a vote of disapproval of such a move, the officials added.The shadow fleet is made up of aging tankers bought used, often by nontransparent entities with addresses in non-sanctioning countries such as the United Arab Emirates or the Marshall Islands, and flagged in places like Gabon or the Cook Islands. Some of the vessels are owned by Russias state-owned Sovcomflot shipping company. Their role is to help Russias oil exporters elude the $60 per barrel price cap imposed by Ukraines allies. Finnish authorities suspect a Russia-linked shadow fleet vessel was i nvolved in possible sabotage, cutting critical power and communications cables under the Baltic Sea between Finland and Estonia on Dec. 25. The Biden administration unveiled a new $500 million military aid package on Thursday as Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.David McHugh in Frankfurt, Germany and Jill Lawless in London and Matthew Lee contributed reporting AAMER MADHANI Aamer Madhani is a White House reporter. twitter mailto