WASHINGTON • The United States Treasury has released a long-awaited list of Russian officials and business leaders eligible for sanctions under a law designed to punish Moscow for its alleged meddling in the election that brought Mr Donald Trump to power.

The list published shortly before midnight on Monday features the names of most of the senior members in President Vladimir Putin's administration - 114 politicians altogether - and 96 business people who the US considers "oligarchs" close to Mr Putin and worth at least US$1 billion (S$1.31 billion) each.

The seven-page unclassified list, which does not trigger sanctions right away, features Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev and top officials in Russian intelligence agencies.

Among the businessmen on the list are Mr German Gref, chief executive officer of state-controlled Sberbank, Russia's biggest lender, and Mr Andrey Kostin, CEO of the second-biggest lender, VTB, which is also controlled by the Russian state.

Mr Alexei Miller, CEO of state-controlled gas export monopoly Gazprom, was also on the list, as was Severstal's Mr Alexei Mordashov and Mr Leonid Mikhelson, co-owner of private gas producer Novatek.

Metals magnate Alisher Usmanov and Mr Eugene Kaspersky, CEO of the Moscow-based cyber-security company that carries his name, were included on the same list. Norilsk Nickel co-owner Vladimir Potanin and Mr Oleg Deripaska, co-owner of Rusal, the world's second-biggest producer of aluminium,were also named.

Merely being publicly identified on the list could dissuade banks and other institutions in the US and Europe from doing business with them.

The Treasury Department, in a statement accompanying the list, said people had been included on the list based on their net worth and "their closeness to the Russian regime".

Mr Putin yesterday joked that he was "offended" the US Treasury had not included his name on the list. "I am offended, you know," he told his supporters with a smile, quoting a famous line from a popular Soviet-era movie.

Mr Putin called the release of the list an "unfriendly step" that he said would further complicate US-Russian ties as well as international relations in general.

But, he said, Russia would for now refrain from implementing reciprocal steps.

Mr Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov accused the Trump administration of using the measure to try to influence the March 18 presidential election, where the Russian leader is seeking to extend his almost two-decade-long rule.

Despite the release of the list, the Trump administration said on Monday it would not immediately impose additional sanctions to deter arms sales by Russia, with State Department spokesman Heather Nauert issuing a statement saying it was too soon to tell how effective the law penalising Moscow for election meddling has been.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, REUTERS, BLOOMBERG