The United States and Great Britain have tightened sanctions against Russia’s energy industry

Some of the measures announced by the US Treasury on Friday will be enacted, meaning the incoming Trump administration will have to involve Congress if it wants to repeal them.

Washington is also trying to severely limit who can legally buy Russian energy, pursuing what Moscow calls a “shadow fleet” of oil tankers around the world.

US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said the moves “increase the risk of sanctions related to Russia’s oil trade, including shipping and financial assistance to support Russian oil exports.”

President Joe Biden said Russian leader Vladimir Putin is “in a tough spot,” adding that “it’s really important that he doesn’t have the breathing room to continue to do the terrible things that he continues to do.”

“There is a possibility that gas prices (in the United States) could go up three or four cents a gallon,” the president said.

But he added that these measures are likely to “have a major impact on the growth of the Russian economy.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky thanked the United States for what he called “bipartisan support”.

Since the start of the war in Ukraine oil price ceiling It was one of the main measures intended to limit Russia’s energy exports.

But as Olga Khakova of the Atlantic Council’s Global Energy Center explains, her effectiveness “watered down”, external because he was also trying to prevent a decrease in the volume of Russian oil in the market.

This was due to concerns about the impact of supply cuts on the global economy.

However, experts said that the oil market is now in a healthier state.

“US oil production (and exports) are at record levels and rising, so the price impact of removing Russian oil, the target of today’s sanctions, will be muted,” said Daniel Fried, senior fellow at the Atlantic Council. .

“The U.S. government went after the Russian oil sector in a big way and was going to deal with what could be a body blow,” Fried said.

Former US Ambassador to Ukraine John Herbst said that although the steps taken are “great”, their implementation will be critical.

“This means that it is the Trump administration that will determine whether these measures actually put pressure on the Russian economy,” he said.