News Feed

Russia condemns new US sanctions on energy sector, says it will continue oil and gas projects

2 min read
Russia condemns new US sanctions on energy sector, says it will continue oil and gas projects
The U.S. Treasury building in Washington, DC, on Aug. 15, 2023. (Nathan Howard/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Russia criticized the latest U.S. sanctions targeting its energy sector on Jan. 11, describing them as an effort to harm Russia's economy while risking instability in global markets. Despite this, the country's Foreign Ministry said Russia would continue pursuing major oil and gas projects.

The ministry condemned Washington's "hostile" actions, announced on Jan. 10, and noted that Russia would craft its foreign policy strategy in response. The ministry argued the sanctions represented "an attempt to inflict at least some damage to the Russian economy, even at the cost of the risk of destabilising world markets as the end approaches of President Joe Biden's inglorious tenure in power."

The sanctions mark the most extensive U.S. measures yet against Russia's oil and gas revenue streams. They aim to provide Kyiv and the incoming administration of Donald Trump with leverage to negotiate an end to the war in Ukraine.

The U.S. Treasury sanctioned Gazprom Neft, Surgutneftegas, and 183 vessels involved in transporting Russian oil, many of which belong to the so-called shadow fleet of aging tankers operated by non-Western companies.

Combined, Gazprom Neft and Surgutneftegas reportedly produce over 1 million barrels of oil daily, generating an estimated $23 billion of revenue annually, according to the U.S. Treasury.

President Volodymyr Zelensky welcomed the sanctions, saying they would "deliver a significant blow" to Russia. "The less revenue Russia earns from oil ... the sooner peace will be restored," he added.

Japan’s new sanctions are ‘significant blow to Russia’s military-industrial complex,’ Zelensky says
The new measures targeted individuals and entities from Russia, China, the United Arab Emirates, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Thailand, Turkey, and North Korea.
Article image
Avatar
Olena Goncharova

Head of North America desk

Olena Goncharova is the Head of North America desk at The Kyiv Independent, where she has previously worked as a development manager and Canadian correspondent. She first joined the Kyiv Post, Ukraine's oldest English-language newspaper, as a staff writer in January 2012 and became the newspaper’s Canadian correspondent in June 2018. She is based in Edmonton, Alberta. Olena has a master’s degree in publishing and editing from the Institute of Journalism in Taras Shevchenko National University in Kyiv. Olena was a 2016 Alfred Friendly Press Partners fellow who worked for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette for six months. The program is administered by the University of Missouri School of Journalism in Columbia.

Read more
News Feed
Video

Since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, war has become a daily reality for thousands of Ukrainian children. Some Ukrainian military units, such as the Azov Brigade, offer boot camps for teenagers to teach them the basics of self-defense, first aid, dry firing, and other survival skills — helping them prepare for both the realities of today and the uncertainties of the future.

Show More