US President Joe Biden announced on Tuesday a ban on all imports of Russian energy, including oil and natural gas.
"The United States is targeting the main artery of Russia's economy. We are banning all imports of Russian oil, gas, and energy," Biden announced.
"That means that Russian oil will no longer be acceptable at US ports, and the American people will deal another powerful blow to Putin's war machine," he continued.
The President stressed that the move has strong bipartisan support among Democrats and Republicans, and had been conducted in coordination with America's allies in Europe.
He added that his administration was acting to secure other sources of energy for Europe, which has become dependent on Russian oil and natural gas, but not all European countries can divest entirely from Russian oil at this time.
"The decision today is not without cost here at home. Putin’s war is already hurting American families at the gas pump. Since Putin began his military build-up at the Ukrainian border, just since then, the price of gas in America went up 75 cents. With this action is going to go up further," he said.
He added: "I’m going to do everything I can to minimize Putin’s price hike here at home."
Last year, the US imported about 700,000 barrels of oil from Russia a day, accounting for 8% of US oil consumption. European Union imports of Russian oil accounted for 25% of European oil consumption, and Russia provides 40% of Europe's natural gas.
Oil prices rose to $140 a barrel Monday ahead of the expected announcement of the ban.
The ban comes as America and Europe continue to ratchet up sanctions against Russia in response to its invasion of Ukraine.
Last month, President Biden announced a series of sweeping sanctions targeting Russia, enacting penalties across industries, including asset freezes for the largest banks, debt and equity restrictions on critical mining, transportation and logistics firms and a large-scale effort to shut down access to critical technology for key Russian military and industrial sectors.
In addition, world leaders have decided to cut off Russian financial institutions from using the SWIFT money transfer system as part of ongoing sanctions against Russian aggression in Ukraine.