"I will be 100% on board with taking sanctions up," Treasury Secretary-pick Scott Bessent told lawmakers on Thursday.

On Jan. 10 the US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned 161 tankers and traders involved in about 2,000 shipments since the invasion began. It also acted against Moscow-based ship insurers and two companies — Surgutneftgas and Gazpromneft — which in the first 10 months of last year accounted for almost 30% of Russia’s oil exports.

"This time it's different" is a well-worn cliché that seems to be getting another whirl with the latest U.S. sanctions against Russia's crude oil exports.

On Jan. 10, the U.S. Treasury announced fresh measures to deplete Russia's energy revenues, including on 183 vessels, largely oil tankers.

Crude’s rally continued this week on the heels of the Biden administrations announcement of new sanctions against several Russian entities and as an 8th-straight week of

A fresh wave of U.S. sanctions against Russia’s oil industry threatened to disrupt global supplies, sending crude prices to their highest in more than four months.

Russia's Foreign Ministry on Saturday denounced new U.S. sanctions against Moscow's energy sector as an attempt to harm Russia's economy at the risk of destabilising global markets and said the country would press on with large oil and gas projects.

The newly inaugurated President of the USA, Donald Trump, is preparing the groundwork for a future agreement between Russia and Ukraine. Even stricter sanctions are expected to be the leverage to persuade Vladimir Putin to come to the negotiating table.

President-elect Donald Trump's pick for Treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, said on Thursday that the dollar should remain the world's reserve currency, the Federal Reserve should stay independent and that he is ready to impose tougher sanctions on Russia's oil sector.