EU to adopt Russia sanctions 'this afternoon'

European Union ambassadors began meeting on Tuesday to discuss sanctions against Russia after its recognition of two breakaway regions

European Union foreign ministers will on Tuesday adopt sanctions against Russia over its recognition of Ukrainian separatist regions and a further deployment of troops on its neighbour's territory, the bloc's foreign policy chief said.

"Our response will be in the form of sanctions, whose extent the ministers will decide... I'm sure there will be a unanimous decision" required for the measures, Josep Borrell told reporters in Paris.

He added that the text of the possible measures was being prepared during the morning while the ministers attend a forum with Asia-Pacific nations in the French capital.

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The decision itself would come "this afternoon" at an emergency meeting that he has called on the sidelines of the forum in Paris, Borrell said.

He would not be drawn on the details of the sanctions, which are expected to fall on the same day as punitive measures by the US and Britain.

Further consequences for Russia "should not be symbolic", Lithuania's deputy foreign minister Arnoldas Pranckevicius said in Brussels.

Ireland's Europe minister Thomas Byrne said "we've got to ensure that whatever happens that Russian certainly feels the pain... that's going to happen".

Also in the EU capital, France's Europe minister Clement Beaune said that agreeing sanctions "was a question of firmness and credibility" for the bloc.

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The measures would include targeted sanctions against Russian individuals and firms, including asset freezes and travel bans, as well as potential financial measures against Russian banks, European sources told AFP.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said separately on Tuesday that Berlin will halt the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline from Russia, singled out by allies as a chink in Europe's united front.

Washington had already banned US persons from any financial dealings with the breakaway territories in eastern Ukraine, whose independence was recognised by Russian President Vladimir Putin late Monday.

Shortly after the announcement, Putin ordered troops into the two regions as part of a "peacekeeping" operation.

"Russian troops have entered Donbas, we consider Donbas part of Ukraine," Borrell said Tuesday.

But the EU joined the US in holding off describing the deployment as an invasion that would trigger the harshest sanctions threatened by the West in recent months.

"I wouldn't say that's a fully-fledged invasion, but Russian troops are on Ukrainian soil," Borrell said.

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