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 Biden administration’s final days and protect some sanctions previously imposed.

The U.S. State and Treasury departments imposed sanctions on over 250 targets, including some based in China, taking aim at Russia’s evasion of U.S. sanctions and its military industrial base. 

As part of the action, the Treasury imposed new curbs on almost 100 entities that were already under sanctions, potentially complicating any future efforts to remove the measures.

Russia’s embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to requests for comment. 

The Treasury in a statement said Washington was imposing fresh sanctions on almost 100 critical Russian entities – including Russian banks and companies operating in Russia’s energy sector – that were previously sanctioned by the United States. It said the move increases secondary sanctions risk for them.

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

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

“You can’t just with the stroke of a pen remove what’s being done,” he said.

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

“It protects these sanctions against sort of any frivolous decision to lift them,” he said. “It gives the new Trump administration more leverage with Russia.”

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

It was unclear how Donald Trump, who succeeds President Joe Biden on Monday, will approach the issue of sanctions on Russia. Trump has been friendly toward Russian President Vladimir Putin in the past and said on Monday that he would aim to meet quickly with him to discuss Ukraine.

When asked about his strategy to end the war, Trump told Newsmax: “Well, there’s only one strategy and it’s up to Putin and I can’t imagine he’s too thrilled about the way it’s gone because it hasn’t gone exactly well for him either.”

SANCTIONS EVASION SCHEME

Washington also took action against a sanctions evasion scheme established between actors in Russia and China, targeting regional clearing platforms in the two countries that it said have been working to allow cross-border payments for sensitive goods. The Treasury said several Russian banks under U.S. sanctions were participants.

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

“The normal economic and trade exchanges between China and Russia should not be interfered with or disrupted, and should not be used as a tool to smear and contain China.”

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

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

The U.S. State Department also imposed sanctions on Russian-held Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, the largest in Europe.

The plant, located in Ukraine’s south east, was captured by Russia shortly after it launched the invasion in 2022. It is 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 the plant’s spokeswoman.

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

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

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Stifel analysts, on the other hand, maintained a Buy rating on Restoration Hardware’s shares, expressing confidence in the company’s growth potential and expected improvements in margins and cash flow. Loop Capital also adjusted its price target on the company’s shares to $450, maintaining a Hold rating.

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This article was generated with the support of AI and reviewed by an editor. For more information see our T&C.

By Jonathan Stempel

NEW YORK (Reuters) -A judge has dismissed New York City’s lawsuit seeking to hold Exxon Mobil , BP (NYSE:) and Shell (LON:) liable for misleading the public about their products, and their commitment to renewable energy and fighting climate change.

In a decision on Tuesday, state Supreme Court Justice Anar Patel said the city could not claim its climate-conscious residents were sensitive to how fossil fuels cause climate change, only to then be duped by the oil companies’ failure to disclose how their fossil fuel products contributed to it.

“The city cannot have it both ways,” Patel wrote.

Patel found no proof the oil companies and the defendant American Petroleum Institute conducted “greenwashing” campaigns, including statements about clean energy and alternative energy, to boost sales of fossil fuel products in the city.

She also said general statements such as Exxon’s claim that its fuel helps people drive “cleaner, smarter and longer” were too vague to suggest the defendants’ products had nothing to do with climate change.

With about 8.3 million people, New York City said the companies falsely portrayed themselves in ads and social media as climate change leaders despite minimal investments in clean energy such as wind and solar.

It sought civil fines and an end to alleged deceptions.

Nicholas Paolucci, a spokesperson for the city’s law department, on Wednesday said the city is reviewing its options.

“Our complaint alleged that these defendants spent millions to mislead consumers to think that they, and their products, contribute to a clean energy future,” he said. “They do not. Companies that violate the city’s consumer protection laws should be held fully accountable. New Yorkers deserve no less.”

In a statement, Exxon said: “At some point, our hope is that political figures around the country come to understand that ideological hatred for us doesn’t mean we did anything wrong.”

Shell declined to comment. BP did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Many U.S. state and local governments have sued oil companies over climate change, including the emission of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases.

Patel ruled one day after the U.S. Supreme Court refused to halt the city of Honolulu’s own lawsuit against Exxon, BP, Shell and several other oil companies.

New York City’s lawsuit began in April 2021, three weeks after a federal appeals court rejected its lawsuit seeking to hold Exxon, BP, Shell, Chevron (NYSE:) and ConocoPhillips (NYSE:) liable to pay its costs from global warming.

The American Petroleum Institute welcomed the latest decision. “Climate policy is for Congress to debate and decide, not a patchwork of courts,” said Ryan Meyers, the trade group’s general counsel.

The case is City of New York v. Exxon Mobil Corp (NYSE:) et al, New York State Supreme Court, New York County, No. 451071/2021.