The US and European Union are increasingly shifting the emphasis of their sanctions programme against Russia to enforcement, says NorthStandard head of external affairs Mike Salthouse.

His comments come as the US accused two more Sovcomflot vessels — the 110,043-dwt NS Champion (built 2005) and 118,175-dwt Viktor Bakaev (built 2013) — of hauling crude oil above the $70-per-tonne price cap.