Russia-Ukraine crisis LIVE news updates: EU agrees Russia sanctions package, warns of further action - The Economic Times

The European Union (EU) is ready to take further action against Russia if it continues to escalate the crisis, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen warned. In a statement, von der Leyen on Tuesday said EU member states had given their political consent to a new package of sanctions against Russia following its recognition of the independence of the Ukrainian regions of Donetsk and Luhansk. The package contains a number of "calibrated measures" targeting banks that finance the Russian military apparatus and contribute to the destabilisation of Ukraine, Xinhua news agency reported. It also bans trade between the two breakaway regions and the EU, as it did with Crimea in 2014, and limits the Russian government's ability to raise capital on the EU's financial markets. Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday evening signed decrees recognising the independence of two self-proclaimed regions in eastern Ukraine's Donbass as "the Lugansk People's Republic (LPR)" and "the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR)".

via Economictimes