US forbids imports of oil, other energy sources from Russia

WASHINGTON/LONDON/SEOUL/BRUSSELS/CAIRO, Mar 9 (PRIME) -- The U.S. has forbidden imports of oil and other energy sources from Russia due to the situation in Ukraine, President Joe Biden said on Tuesday.

"We're banning all imports of Russian oil and gas energy," Biden said. "That means Russian oil will no longer be acceptable in U.S. ports…," he said. The president added that he understands that the European allies cannot join the prohibition.

The new sanctions also prohibit the Americans to invest in the Russian energy sector and finance any foreign companies that invest in it, the White House said in a clarification. According to sources cited by Reuters, the prohibition does not affect uranium imports.

The U.S. senators also offered to punish entities for transactions with gold of the Russian central bank, one of the initiators John Cornyn said.

The U.K.’s Energy and Industry Minister Kwasi Kwarteng said on his Twitter that the U.K. would stop imports of Russian oil and oil products by the end of 2022.

Head of the E.U. diplomacy Josep Borrell told al-Jazeera that the E.U. has no plans to prohibit imports of Russian energy sources. Executive Vice President of the European Commission Frans Timmermans said that natural gas can still be a transitive fuel for the E.U. but Europe needs to wean off Russian gas.

The Foreign Ministry of South Korea said that the country joined the additional sanctions against Russia and would suspend all transactions with the central bank.

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