Agreement on EU sanctions against Russia expected before summit

An agreement on the next sanctions package against Russia is expected before next week's EU summit, or at least major parts of the package, an EU official told Reuters.

The official said they expected the summit to focus on the referendums in Ukraine, possible annexations of areas by Russia, Russia's nuclear threats and the disruption to the Nord Stream pipelines.

EU leaders are also expected to discuss different ideas for energy price caps at the summit, which the EU official expects to be a tense one "as we are in difficult times".