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.

In the run-up to his departure from the White House, President Joe Biden has slapped a number of major new sanctions on Russia’s financial systems and energy sector. The U.S. originally threatened Russia with “the mother of all sanctions” as Moscow prepared to invade Ukraine in February 2022.