U.S. to ban oil imports from Russia

The United States and European Union took steps Tuesday to dramatically scale back imports of Russian energy, attempting to economically isolate the Kremlin following its invasion of Ukraine even if the moves lead to higher oil prices for millions of consumers worldwide.

 At the White House, President Biden said he was banning all imports of oil and natural gas from Russia, effective immediately. The United Kingdom also announced a plan to phase out all Russian oil products by the end of the year. E.U. officials, meanwhile, unveiled a separate plan to cut Russian gas imports by approximately two-thirds this year — though questions quickly emerged about whether the European nations would be able to achieve that goal.