This was reported by DW.

The European Union has prepared a "significant and comprehensive package of financial and economic sanctions" against Russia, which will be imposed in the event of its invasion of Ukraine.

This was stated by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in an interview with the German newspaper Handelsblatt and the French Les Echos, published on Friday, February 4.

Among other things, steps include closing access to foreign capital and introducing export controls, especially on high-tech goods, she added.

The package also includes measures on the Nord Stream-2 gas pipeline.

It depends on Russia's further behavior whether it will be put into operation, said von der Leyen.

Sanctions against Putin are not ruled out

The head of the European Commission did not rule out economic sanctions against Russian President Vladimir Putin, as well as people from his entourage and oligarchs close to the Kremlin.

In addition, the penalties apply to components "which Russia cannot easily replace," including in the field of artificial intelligence, weapons, as well as quantum computers, lasers and space.

Earlier, Britain and the United States said they had prepared a package of sanctions against Russia, including against Putin's inner circle and their relatives.

The threat of Russia's attack on Ukraine

  • According to US intelligence on January 7, 2022, more than 100,000 Russian troops are on Russia's border with Ukraine.

    Additional fighter jets were also spotted there.

  • Russian authorities deny the possibility of invasion and say that the movement of troops inside the country is a "sovereign right" of Russia.

    Moscow calls reports of the invasion "an unjustified escalation of tensions."

  • Russian authorities have begun talks with the United States and NATO on security guarantees in Europe.

    According to Russia's demands, the United States should not establish military bases in the territory of the former Soviet Union, which is not a member of NATO, and the alliance should stop expanding to the east.

    In particular, Russia has demanded not to admit Ukraine to NATO.

    Representatives of the alliance have already called these demands unacceptable.

  • On January 18, the Belarusian Defense Ministry said that Belarusian-Russian maneuvers near the Ukrainian border would begin on February 10.

    Part of the forces and means of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Belarus, as well as military authorities, a number of military units and subdivisions of the Eastern Military District of the Armed Forces of Russia will be involved in them.

  • It also became known that Russia on January 5 evacuated at least 18 members of the families of Russian diplomats from Ukraine.

    About 30 more people left the Russian Embassy in Kyiv and the consulate in Lviv in the coming days.

  • Since 2014, the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea has been occupied by Russia, parts of Donetsk and Luhansk regions, including their main cities captured by militants of the self-proclaimed "DPR" and "LPR", supported by Moscow with the help of Russian regular troops.

  • Despite repeated declarations of silence, shelling continues on the line of demarcation, often injuring and killing Ukrainian servicemen.

  • The United States, Canada, Britain and other countries have sent weapons to Ukraine.

    Germany, which had previously defended the Nord Stream-2 gas pipeline project, refused to supply weapons and blocked supplies from Estonia, saying it was a German-made weapon.

    Berlin agreed to send only a field hospital to Ukraine.

  • On January 25, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine adopted a statement to the international community urging it to prevent blackmail and threats of a full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine in exchange for guarantees of NATO non-proliferation and prevention of Ukraine's European and Euro-Atlantic aspirations.