The U.S. and its key allies on the West and the East continue to tighten the noose around Russian exports of oil and gas and with them, the ability to finance its ongoing invasion of Ukraine and to support Iranian attempts to widen the rolling Israel-Hamas War. Several new agreements were made at both the G7 group of countries (comprising Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the U.K., and the U.S.) and European Union (E.U.) levels in December that significantly build on various sanctions deployed on Russian oil and gas following the conflict it initiated in Ukraine on 24 February 2022. On 8 December, the E.U. Council reached a…
