The United States on Tuesday targeted more Russian businessmen and companies over Russia's annexation of Crimea and the conflict in Ukraine, slapping them with U.S. sanctions in a move Moscow criticized as hostile.

The measures come a month before U.S. President Barack Obama hands over power to President-elect Donald Trump, who has praised Russian President Vladimir Putin and said it would be good if the two countries could get along. bla

In a statement, the U.S. Treasury named seven Russian businessmen, six of whom it said were executives at Bank Rossiya or its affiliates ABR Management and Sobinbank. The U.S. Treasury has called Bank Rossiya "the personal bank for officials of the Russian Federation" and had previously sanctioned it and the two affiliates.

The U.S. Treasury also sanctioned several companies and government enterprises for operating in Crimea, including two Russian firms it said were helping to build a multi-billion dollar bridge to link the Russian mainland with the peninsula, a project important to Putin.

Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told TASS news agency that the sanctions were hostile acts by the outgoing Obama administration and Russia would expand its sanctions lists against the United States in response.

Source: Reuters