US sanctions Russian energy giant doing business with Nicolas Maduro

The Trump administration announced new sanctions against Russia's biggest oil producer and an executive at the company over its operations in Venezuela, an escalation of Trump's promise in his State of the Union address to "smash" the rule of Nicolas Maduro.

The Russian energy giant Rosneft's trading arm has handled over half the oil coming out of Venezuela and has actively helped the country evade sanctions through a variety of means, such as ship-to-ship transfers, which conceal the oil's origin. Tuesday's action is aimed at "putting everyone on notice that that kind of evasion will not be tolerated," a senior administration said is a call Tuesday with reporters, citing the administration's confidence that increased pressure will lead to continued movement toward a democratic transition.

The decision was cleared by President Trump and was discussed Saturday by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. Trump has spoken in the past with Russian President Vladimir Putin about the importance of a democratic transition in Venezuela and stressed the administration's concerns about companies doing business with the Maduro government.