EU to hit Russia with new sanctions if Ukraine attacked

By RAF CASERT
Associated Press

BRUSSELS (AP) — The head of the European Union’s executive has warned Russia that the bloc has a battery of additional sanctions ready if Moscow decides to invade neighboring Ukraine. Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said that beyond scaling up and expanding existing sanctions, the EU can adopt “unprecedented measures with serious consequences for Russia.” Von der Leyen told the European Parliament that there are already economic sanctions in place targeting Russia’s finance, energy and sectors because of its annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea peninsula in 2014 and actions that the west sees as increasingly aggressive since.