WASHINGTON, Dec. 21 - The United States on Tuesday targeted more Russian businessmen and companies over Russia's annexation of Crimea and the conflict in Ukraine, slapping them with U.S. sanctions in a move Moscow criticized as hostile, Reuters reported.

The measures come a month before U.S. President Barack Obama hands over power to President-elect Donald Trump, who has praised Russian President Vladimir Putin and said it would be good if the two countries could get along.

Trump's nominee for U.S. Secretary of State, Exxon Mobil Corp Chief Executive Officer Rex Tillerson, has opposed U.S. sanctions on Russia, which awarded him a friendship medal in 2013.

The United States introduced sanctions on Russia after it annexed the Crimean peninsula from Ukraine in 2014 and expanded them over its support for separatist rebels in the East of the country.

But it is unclear if the United States will maintain the sanctions on Russia under Trump, who could lift the executive orders that authorize the measures.

U.S. State Department spokesman John Kirby in a news briefing on Tuesday denied suggestions that the timing of the measures was related to the transition next month.

"This decision by the Treasury Department had nothing to do with the time on the clock," Kirby said. "It had everything to do with Russia's activities and support for the separatists in Ukraine and for their occupation of Crimea."

The U.S. move comes a day after the European Union formally extended its economic sanctions on Russia's defense, energy and financial sectors until mid-2017, a move E.U. leaders agreed to last week.

Trump's election - and the mutual praise between him and Putin - has stoked hopes in Russia that Western sanctions might be eased or lifted under his presidency, potentially spurring investment in Russia's flat-lining economy.

A reversal by Trump of existing sanctions, or a softer U.S. stance on enforcing them, could also weaken European sanctions resolve.

In a statement, the U.S. Treasury named seven Russian businessmen, six of whom it said were executives at Bank Rossiya or its affiliates ABR Management and Sobinbank. The U.S. Treasury has called Bank Rossiya "the personal bank for officials of the Russian Federation" and had previously sanctioned it and the two affiliates.

One of the men named on Tuesday was Kirill Kovalchuk, whom Russian media have identified as a nephew of Yuri Kovalchuk, a major shareholder in Bank Rossiya. The United States sanctioned Yuri Kovalchuk in 2014, saying he was a close adviser to Putin and his personal banker. (rt/ez)