The European Union (EU) announced late on Monday that the 27-nation bloc has approved a new set of sanctions to punish Moscow for its invasion of Ukraine, The Associated Press reported.
France, which holds the EU presidency, said the bloc "in consultation with our international partners, has approved a fourth package of sanctions targeting individuals and entities involved in the aggression against Ukraine, as well as several sectors of the Russian economy."
The French presidency said in a statement that the bloc also approved a declaration to the World Trade Organization "on suspending the application of the most-favored-nation clause for Russia and suspending the examination of Belarus´ application for accession to the WTO."
If Russia is suspended, its companies would no longer receive special treatment throughout the bloc.
Russia has been slapped with sanctions in response to its invasion of Ukraine. Shortly after the invasion started, EU leaders agreed to impose new economic sanctions on Russia, freezing Russian assets in the bloc and halting its banks' access to European financial markets.
A day later, the EU announced a freeze on the assets of Russian President Vladimir Putin himself, as well as on his Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
World leaders also decided to cut off Russian financial institutions from using the SWIFT money transfer system.
The EU also added top Kremlin-linked oligarchs to its sanctions blacklist, targeting some of the key moneymen accused of backing Putin's regime.
In a statement published after Monday’s summit, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the fourth package of sanctions will further isolate Russia "and drain the resources it uses to finance this barbaric war."
She said the EU will work in lockstep with Group of Seven countries to ramp up the pressure against Moscow.