By Daphne Psaledakis and David Brunnstrom

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States on Wednesday imposed hundreds of sanctions targeting Russia, seeking to increase pressure on Moscow in the final days of the Biden administration and protect some previously imposed sanctions.

The US State and Treasury departments have imposed sanctions on more than 250 targets, including some based in China, aimed at Russia’s evasion of US sanctions and its military industrial base.

As part of the action, the Treasury imposed new curbs on nearly 100 entities already under sanctions, which could complicate any future efforts to remove the measures.

The Russian embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The Treasury said in a statement that Washington had imposed new sanctions on nearly 100 critical Russian entities – including Russian banks and companies operating in Russia’s energy sector – that previously authorized in the United States. It says the move increases the risk of a second penalty for them.

The new sanctions were issued under an executive order that a senior Treasury official said requires Congress to be notified before any actions can be reversed.

Jeremy Paner, a partner at the law firm Hughes Hubbard & Reed, said the actions are “Trump-proofed,” preventing the reversal of additional sanctions without congressional approval.

“You can’t with a stroke of a pen undo what’s been done,” he said.

Edward Fishman, a former US official who is now a research scholar at Columbia University, called it a “very significant action.”

“It protects the sanctions against any arbitrary decision to remove them,” he said. “It gives the new Trump administration more leverage on Russia.”

Trump’s transition team did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

It is unclear how Donald Trump, who succeeded President Joe Biden on Monday, will approach the issue of Russian sanctions. Trump has been friendly with Russian President Vladimir Putin in the past and said Monday he wanted to meet with him soon to discuss Ukraine.

When asked about his strategy for ending the war, Trump told Newsmax: “Well, there’s only one strategy and it’s Putin’s and I can’t imagine he’s very happy with the way it’s gone because it’s not good for him. even.”

SANCTIONS EVASION SCHEME

Washington is also taking action against a scheme to avoid sanctions established between Russian and Chinese actors, targeting regional clearing platforms in the two countries that are said to be working to allow cross-payments. -border for sensitive items. The Treasury said several Russian banks under US sanctions are participants.

“China strongly opposes any illegal unilateral sanctions and ‘long-arm jurisdiction’,” Liu Pengyu, a spokesman for the Chinese embassy in Washington, said in a statement.

“Normal economic and trade exchanges between China and Russia should not be interrupted or disrupted, and should not be used as a tool to smear and hide China.”

Also hit by sanctions on Wednesday were Keremet Bank, a Kyrgyzstan-based financial institution accused by the Treasury of coordinating with Russian officials and a bank identified by the United States as evading sanctions.

Keremet Bank did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The US State Department also imposed sanctions on the Russian-owned Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, the largest in Europe.

The plant, located in southeastern Ukraine, was seized by Russia shortly after it launched the invasion in 2022. It has been shut down but needs external power to keep its nuclear material cool and prevent a meltdown.

The sanctions will not affect its operations, Russian news agencies reported on Wednesday, citing a plant spokesman.

The Biden administration has imposed rafts of punitive measures targeting Russia over its February 2022 invasion of Ukraine that killed or injured thousands and reduced cities to destruction. Washington has repeatedly sought to counter evasion of its measures.

Less than a week ago, the administration imposed the broadest package of sanctions to date targeting Russian oil and gas revenues in an effort to give Kyiv and Trump’s incoming team leverage to reach an agreement for peace in Ukraine.