The White House on new U.S. sanctions: they will compel Russia to make a difficult choice.

The new U.S. sanctions against the Russian energy sector will significantly reduce Russia's revenues. They will also force Moscow to make a "difficult choice."

This was stated by John Kirby, the coordinator for strategic communications at the National Security Council at the White House, as reported by RBK-Ukraine citing "Voice of America."

"[The new sanctions] create significant pressure on the Russian economy, which will increasingly compel Russian leadership to make tough decisions," Kirby said.

He reminded that last year, the U.S. imposed sanctions against Russian banks, particularly "Gazprombank." This had a severe impact on the Russian energy sector.

"We believe this should increase pressure [on Russia] and contribute to the already bleak economic forecasts for 2025 and beyond for Putin and his wartime economy," emphasized the White House representative.

According to Kirby, the new anti-Russian sanctions will substantially decrease Russia's revenues and force Moscow to lose billions of dollars monthly.

When asked whether the Trump administration would need to go to Congress to lift the sanctions, he answered affirmatively.

"I think so. I mean, that’s President Biden's decision. I would leave it to the next administration to determine what executive actions they might want to take in the future, if they choose to take any measures," he explained.

Sanctions Against Russia

It should be noted that on January 10, it became known that the U.S. imposed new sanctions against the Russian energy sector. More than 30 Russian oil service companies were added to the list. The sanctions are aimed at blocking two major Russian oil producers, namely "Gazprom Neft" and "Surgutneftegas."

The sanctions also targeted Alexey Likhachev, the CEO of the Russian state energy company "Rosatom."

Following the U.S., the UK also imposed sanctions against "Gazprom Neft" and "Surgutneftegas."