The White House announced, on Sunday, in a statement, that "the Group of Seven with all its members pledged today to ban or gradually cancel imports of Russian oil."

  The US presidency said that this decision "will deal a severe blow to the main artery that feeds Vladimir Putin's economy and deprive him of the revenues he needs to finance his war."

  But the statement does not clarify what the commitments of each of the members of the Group of Seven, which includes Germany (the group's chair this year), Canada, the United States, France, Italy, Japan and the United Kingdom.

  The Group of Seven held its third meeting of the year via video link, on Sunday, with the participation of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

  The choice of date is very symbolic, as Europeans commemorate the end of World War II in Europe on May 8.

  Sunday's meeting also came on the eve of a military parade on May 9 in Russia to celebrate the victory of the Soviet Union over Nazi Germany.

  The West has so far shown very close coordination in declaring sanctions against Russia, but it does not act in similar coordination when it comes to Russian oil and gas.

  For its part, the United States banned the import of Russian hydrocarbons, but it was not a major buyer of energy from Moscow.

  On Sunday, European Union member states continued intensive negotiations to impose an embargo on Russian oil, under increasing pressure on them to take a decision in this regard.

  On Sunday, Washington announced the imposition of a new package of sanctions against Russia, affecting the Russian media, the wealthy of Russia, and the advisory and accounting services in which the Americans and British are pioneers.

  By blacklisting Berfi Canal, Rossiya-1 and NTV, Washington prohibits any US company from funding it through advertising or selling equipment.

  "No American company should be involved in funding Russian propaganda," said a senior White House official, who did not want to be identified.

  The official added that it is now prohibited to provide "audit services, management, consulting, marketing and all services that are used to operate multinational companies, but also to circumvent sanctions or hide illegal wealth."

  And the United States imposed a new ban on the export of American products to Russia, which included a full range of goods from bulldozers to ventilation systems through to heaters.

  On Sunday, it also announced that it would impose visa restrictions on 2,600 Russian and Belarusian personalities, as well as impose sanctions on officials of Sberbank and Gazprombank.