EU Decision on Russia Sanctions by Friday

European Union nations will decide on new sanctions against Moscow by Friday, with Russian aggression towards Ukraine requiring the strongest possible response, incoming EU foreign affairs chief Federica Mogherini said.

Leaders of the 28-member EU decided on Saturday to impose a fresh round of sanctions against Russia after alleging that Moscow had deployed troops and weapons to back a rebel counteroffensive in southeast Ukraine.

Mogherini, currently the Italian foreign minister, said the European Commission, the bloc's executive, would present a package of new tougher measures to ambassadors in Brussels as soon as Wednesday.

The EU ambassadors are "meeting again tomorrow, Thursday and Friday, and by Friday a decision will be adopted", she told reporters after meeting European parliamentarians following her nomination as EU diplomatic chief on Saturday.

She said the sanctions would be in the four areas -- financial sanctions, arms, dual-use materials and technology -- targeted by earlier rounds of sanctions.

"Things on the ground are getting more and more dramatic," she said.

"We speak about an aggression and I think that we need to respond in the strongest possible way to that, in order that pressure is put to find a political solution."

Mogherini said the fact that there had been peace talks in Belarus this week was a "little light in a time of complete darkness."