US hits Russia with fresh sanctions over 'malign activity' including Crimea and Bashar Assad support

Russian oligarchs and Kremlin officials have been hit with fresh US sanctions over Moscow's alleged "malign activity".

The White House cited Russia's activities in Crimea, support for Syrian president Bashar Assad, cyber hacking and attempts to subvert Western democracy for the new measures.

Seven oligarchs and 17 officials have been affected, including individuals linked with Russia's energy sector, such as state-owned Gazprom.

Friday's move comes just two weeks after the US expelled 60 Russian diplomats over its said involvement in the Sergei Skripal poisoning.

More than 25 countries took similar steps in a show of solidarity for the UK.

The latest set of measures will likely continue to sour relations between Moscow and Washington.

Announcing the decision, the White House spoke of "the totality of the Russian government's ongoing and increasingly brazen pattern" of bad behaviour.

A state-owned arms dealing company and a subsidiary bank will be among those to suffer from the sanctions.

Officials said the goal was to show that those who have benefited financially from Russian President Vladimir Putin's position of power are fair game for US punishments, noting that many of those being sanctioned are closely tied to Putin himself.

In recent months, Donald Trump been accused by opponents of going easy on Putin.

But since coming to power, the president has punished 189 Russian-related people with sanctions.

On Tuesday he claimed "nobody has been tougher on Russia than I have".