The White House, now unconcerned about the effect on gas prices and inflation, blacklisted two of Russia’s biggest oil producers and nearly 200 tanker ships.

Washington now has freer hand in restricting Russian oil amid predictions of a global glut.

The U.S. Treasury Department is sanctioning Russian oil companies, tankers, officials and executives. Oil prices jumped on worries that crude supplies would face disruptions. Oil prices jumped on Friday as the U.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said Russia is closely monitoring the situation, after US President-elect Donald Trump refused to rule out military action to take Greenland from Denmark. Peskov said the Arctic was in Russia's "sphere of national and strategic interests and it is interested in peace and stability there".

A polar bear family group, consisting of an adult female and two cubs, crosses glacier ice in Southeast Greenland in this handout photograph taken in September 2016. NASA OMG/Handout via REUTERS/File Photo MOSCOW (Reuters) - The Kremlin on Thursday said that Russia had strategic national interests in the Arctic when asked to comment on U.

Trump said in a press conference this week that he would not rule out using military force to seize Greenland.