(VOVworld) – EU Foreign Ministers have unanimously agreed to impose further sanctions on Russia, aiming at its defense industry.

EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton.

Catherine Ashton, the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, said that the EU Foreign Ministers had decided to apply the measures proposed at last week’s EU leaders’ summit and had set the deadline for the end of July. The new sanctions, which would be presented on Thursday, were aimed at entities and individuals related to Crimea’s merger with Russia and the Malaysian airliner’s crash in eastern Ukraine. Ashton insisted that the EU was well-prepared to tighten sanctions if Moscow did not take measures to change the current situation, while the UK called for the imposition of “level 3” sanctions and an arms embargo on Russia’s economic and defense industries. The current level of sanctions is level 2, including a ban on immigration and freezing the properties of 72 Russians and Ukrainians.