The United States on Friday announced an expansion of the list of sanctions imposed on Russia by including a oil and gas field.



The Federal Register's Industry and Security Bureau explained in a statement that it had been decided to "further implement" sanctions on "certain Russian energy projects" by adding the Yuzhno-Kirinskoye oil and gas field in the Sea of Okhotsk.



Exports, reexports and transfers of all items to the field will thus be considered a violation to the measures introduced last year on energy and other Russian industry sectors.



This is the first time the US has introduced sanctions against a given facility, instead of targeting a natural or a legal person.



The Yuzhno-Kirinskoye oil and gas field contains around 640 billion cubic meters of gas and 97 million tons of gas condensate.



Later on Friday the Kremlin downplayed the move. RIA Novosti quoted its spokesman Dmitry Peskov as saying US actions are unlikely to have a serious impact on Russian oil and gas industry, though admitting "we cannot say the sanctions have no effect... The economy shows its stability."



He warned that the development added to the process of damaging US-Russia relations.



