Lithuania insists on further EU sanctions targeting Russia

Lithuania's President Gitanas Nausėda is insisting on more far-reaching measures on top of what has been imposed in the 10th EU sanctions package on Russia.

"We will keep up the pressure. There will be packages 11 and 12. We will not sit back," Nausėda said on Tuesday in the Lithuanian Baltic Sea resort of Palanga, according to the BNS agency.

He said he was particularly committed to punitive measures against the Russian state-owned nuclear power company Rosatom and the Russian nuclear industry.

Nausėda said that while it was good that the measures coincided with the anniversary of the Russian attack on Ukraine, "I am not very happy now about the latest sanctions package. We have always stressed that what Russia is doing in the nuclear field - destabilizing and posing a very concrete threat to nuclear facilities in Ukraine - cannot remain without consequences."

Previous efforts have not been successful "because of the very specific interests of very specific states," Nausėda said, without giving details or names.

Lithuania's president added that all sanctions packages were compromises, otherwise they would not have been adopted.

EU states like Hungary are against sanctions on the Russian nuclear industry. Rosatom is currently building two new reactor units for the Hungarian nuclear power plant Paks.

The EU enacted new sanctions targeting Russia in the areas of trade, propaganda and banking at the weekend.

As with previous packages, individuals and organizations accused of undermining or threatening Ukraine's territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence were sanctioned.

Kaynak: DPA