EU ambassadors have been discussing a sanctions package on Russia consisting of four parts which could be agreed by the bloc's foreign ministers at a meeting later on Tuesday in Paris, an EU Commission source told Reuters.

The package, proposed by the EU's executive Commission, includes banning the trade in Russian state bonds in the European market and kicking the break-away regions in eastern Ukraine out of a free trade deal between the EU and Ukraine.

It also comprises sanctions on several hundred members of Russia's state Duma who voted for the recognition of the break-away regions in eastern Ukraine, as well as on companies and banks involved in the financing of separatist activities in the these regions.

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Russian President Vladimir Putin's announcement on Monday, followed by his signing a decree on the deployment of Russian troops to Donetsk and Luhansk, drew international condemnation and immediate US sanctions.

The EU has repeatedly said it was ready to impose "massive consequences" on Russia's economy if Moscow invades Ukraine but has also cautioned that, given the EU's close energy and trade ties to Russia, it wants to ratchet up sanctions in stages.

"We've got to ensure that whatever happens, Russia will feel the pain ... to make sure Russia has absolutely no incentive to go further," Irish EU affairs minister Thomas Byrne said earlier on Tuesday.

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Not all of the bloc's 27 member states have the same relation to Russia or dependency on its gas, which could complicate the adoption of sanctions.

EU officials and diplomats said some EU countries, including Austria, Hungary and Italy, Russia's closest allies in the bloc, would prefer more limited sanctions in response to Putin's move on eastern Ukraine.

Others want to see a fuller, tougher range of measures discussed in recent weeks for the event of a Russian invasion of Ukraine to be rolled out now. Baltic, central and eastern European states say tough sanctions should be imposed immediately as Russia is already showing military aggression towards Ukraine.

Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi, whose country relies on Russian for much of its gas, told a news conference in Rome that any sanctions should not include energy imports.

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"How we react as European Union will define our character and indeed the future of Europe," Lithuanian vice minister of foreign affairs Arnoldas Pranckevicius said at a meeting in Brussels.

The sanctions "should not be symbolic. If we want to deter further actions from president Putin, if we want to stop the war from happening, we need to move ahead with serious measures."

A senior EU diplomat told Reuters there was "a whole escalation ladder, starting with Russian individuals and moving up to finance, trade, and eventually energy. So, technically, a lot is possible."

Catch all the latest updates on the Russia-Ukraine conflict here.

First Published:Feb 22, 2022 5:55 PM IST