European foreign ministers ready to toughen action against Russia

Foreign ministers from large European countries said on Thursday they were ready to step up pressure on Russia, "including through further sanctions" involving the energy and banking sector, to weaken Moscow in its war with Ukraine.

The meeting in Rome was attended by officials from France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain, Britain and the European Union. NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte and a Ukrainian representative also joined the talks.

"We reiterated our readiness to step up our pressure on Russia as it continues to refuse serious and credible commitments, including through further sanctions and countering their circumvention," the foreign ministers' statement said.

The Rome gathering took place as Russia intensifies attacks against Ukraine, which Moscow says are retaliatory measures for recent strikes by Kyiv on its own soil.

Representatives from the two sides met in Istanbul earlier this month for peace talks which were inconclusive and failed to bring a ceasefire that Ukraine, its European allies and Washington have all urged Russia to accept.

The Europeans said on Thursday they were "ready to swiftly adopt new measures (notably in the energy and banking sectors) aimed at undermining" Russia's war effort.

They stressed they would keep frozen Russian sovereign assets in their jurisdiction "until Russia ceases its aggression and pays for the damage it has caused."

Some $300 billion of Russian state assets were frozen by the Group of Seven (G7) rich democracies after Moscow's 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

Last year, G7 leaders agreed to provide Ukraine with $50 billion via a series of bilateral loans that Kyiv could pay off using windfall profits from these frozen Russian assets.

"We are prepared to enhance our support, including through improving defence industrial cooperation with Ukraine, and exploring additional forms of security and defence cooperation," the statement said, without elaborating.