The EU's executive on Wednesday proposed a new round of sanctions on Moscow over its latest "escalation" in Ukraine, including an oil price cap and ban on Russian exports worth €7 billion. It also plans to expand its travel blacklist and asset freezes to include high-ranking Russian defence officials and organisers of widely derided annexation votes in occupied Ukrainian territories. "Last week, Russia has escalated the invasion of Ukraine to a new level," European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said. She listed the "sham" referendums staged by Russia in the occupied regions of Ukraine, Moscow's military mobilisation and President Vladimir Putin's "threat to use nuclear weapons". "We're determined to make the Kremlin pay for this further escalation," von der Leyen said. As part of the new round of sanctions - which has to be signed off by the bloc's 27 nations - the commission is laying out a "legal basis" for a price cap on Russian oil, in line with an agreement by the G7. It will also look to ban Russian exports worth $7 billion and tighten restrictions on goods flowing from the EU that could help Russia's war machine. "The aim is here to deprive the Kremlin's...
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