EU leaders has given new sanctions on Russia

 Ukraine remains the principle flashpoint among Russia and the West

the ecu Union is beneath attack from Russia on multiple fronts and must unite behind new economic sanctions, Baltic and valuable european leaders stated on Thursday, with Lithuania bringing up a danger of feasible Russian navy strikes from Belarus.

The warnings at an ecu summit have been a number of the most direct in latest weeks as the united states and its Nato allies are trying to find to deter any feasible Russian attack on Ukraine and decrease Moscow's margin for wonder. Many Nato allies also are eu member states.

"We honestly are facing a series of assaults. I see all of them as associated," Latvian prime Minister Krisjanis Karins instructed newshounds, list what he said was the weaponization of middle East migrants on Belarus' borders with the eu, artificially high fees for Russian natural gas, and Russian disinformation.

Ukraine remains the principle flashpoint among Russia and the West. Washington says Russia has amassed more than a hundred,000 troops on Ukraine's borders, possibly for an invasion.

Moscow says it has a right to move its troops round its very own territory as it sees fit however says the manoeuvres are only defensive.

ecu leaders will warn of "large consequences" if Russia were to invade Ukraine, in keeping with a draft very last summit announcement visible by way of Reuters. america and Britain have taken a comparable stance.

Nato Secretary-standard Jens Stoltenberg said on Thursday Russia become increasing, now not decreasing, its troops on the border.

"We see no sign that this build-up is stopping or slowing down. on the opposite, it continues," he instructed newshounds at Nato headquarters, standing along Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.

Stoltenberg stated there were Russian "combat-equipped troops, tanks, artillery, armoured devices, drones (and) digital conflict systems" on Ukraine's border.

The Kremlin denies the West's accusations towards it, which include any plan to invade Ukraine. It says it has valid safety pursuits in the region and on Wednesday surpassed proposals to the united states that Nato ought to now not extend eastwards or place new guns structures near Russia's borders.

however Russia's Baltic neighbours attacked what they see as Moscow's attempts to blur the road between peace and struggle.

"we're likely facing the most risky situation in the ultimate 30 years. i'm speaking approximately now not best Ukraine however the japanese flank of Nato," said Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda, a day after ecu leaders held a summit with Ukraine and four different ex-Soviet republics in Brussels.

He mentioned fears that Russia would possibly integrate Belarus, which borders Poland and two Baltic states, into its military structures and use its territory "as a possible platform to attack neighbouring nations."

Any coordinated european sanctions will possibly rely upon Germany, whose new centre-left chancellor Olaf Scholz has taken a more difficult line than his centre-right predecessor, Angela Merkel.

however, Berlin could nevertheless be torn over whether to risk Russian natural gas supplies to its businesses and households this wintry weather by way of status as much as Moscow, diplomats stated.

Germany, France and Ukraine sought on Wednesday to restore the "Normandy" format, a diplomatic peace initiative with Russia to cease a war in jap Ukraine pitting seasoned-Russian separatists towards Kyiv's forces.

"we are able to underscore once more that the inviolability of borders is an critical foundation for peace in Europe, and that collectively we will do the whole thing to ensure that this inviolability endures," Scholz informed reporters at his first european summit as German chief.

The West imposed economic sanctions on Russia in 2014 over its annexation of the Crimean Peninsula from Ukraine. The measures targeted Russia's electricity, banking and defence sectors.