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.

In the capital of Transnistria, a Kremlin-backed microstate sandwiched between Moldova and Ukraine, the festive New Year’s lights have gone dark ahead of schedule. This separatist sliver of Moldova will run out of energy in three weeks,

Oil prices jumped more than 4% on Friday, with global benchmark Brent breaking $80 per barrel for the first time since October on fears that tougher U.S. sanctions on Russia will disrupt crude supplies.

Every time planned electrical outages are imposed on his village in southern Moldova, 73-year-old retiree Vasili Donici passes the time by solving crosswords and puzzles in a room he illuminates using a small gas lamp.

As the drone whirrs into the sky, something unusual trails behind it: a fibre optic cable barely visible to the naked eye.

After three years of war, strict sanctions, and dwindling oil prices, the odds are stacked against the Kremlin in 2025, a think tank fellow argues.

Russia is "watching this rather dramatic development of the situation very closely," President Vladimir Putin's spokesperson said.

Germany charged that a heavily loaded tanker adrift off its northern coast Friday was part of the "shadow fleet" Moscow uses to avoid sanctions on its oil exports. In response, Russia has relied on tankers with opaque ownership or without proper insurance to continue lucrative oil exports.

Britain has imposed new sanctions on Russian oil majors Gazprom Neft and Surgutneftegaz , the foreign ministry on Friday.