The European Union will continue to consider new sanctions packages against Russia, despite the growing difficulties associated with their adoption, said the President of the European Council Charles Michel, writes Bloomberg.

“Each discussion on sanctions is much more complicated than the previous one,” he emphasized.

Michel noted that the discussion of possible sanctions against Russia with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was going well and promised to inform his colleagues in the European Council about Kiev’s proposals. In his opinion, the European Union will succeed in “increasing pressure on the Kremlin.”

“I am sure that this will be an occasion and a powerful signal that we are together <…>. We will also decide what are the next steps, what are the common goals,” Michel said of the planned Ukraine-EU summit scheduled for February 3.

The sanctions are planned to be adopted by the anniversary of the introduction of Russian troops into Ukraine, February 24, 2023, RBC writes. According to them, EU hawks Poland and Lithuania are pushing for sanctions against more “Russian propaganda media” and the exclusion of additional Russian banks from the global SWIFT system, while measures against the nuclear industry are also being discussed.

“It is increasingly difficult to get the necessary unanimity in the EU for new sanctions,” one of the sources said.