OREANDA-NEWS. Several major European Union countries do not support plans to impose restrictive measures against Russia over a possible escalation against Ukraine, Bloomberg says.

"Germany, France, Italy and Spain intend to focus on talks with Moscow before details of painful economic restrictions (in case of a Russian 'invasion') are outlined,"- the story said.

Earlier, the leadership of the US House Foreign Affairs Committee said that it was ready to develop new sanctions against Russia in case of a possible military invasion of Ukraine. The committee stressed that the restrictive measures would be aimed at "deterring Moscow's aggression" against Kiev.

On 13 December, the press secretary of the Russian president, Dmitriy Peskov, said that statements by the G7 countries about possible sanctions against Russia due to the allegedly prepared invasion of Ukraine were another threat. Peskov said that when it comes to the need for de-escalation in Ukraine, Russia would like to see appeals to Kiev to stop provocative actions on the Donbas demarcation line, but there were no such appeals.

The day before, it was reported that G7 countries intend to warn Russia that an invasion of Ukraine would have dire consequences and a serious price to pay. It was reported that finance ministers would consider potential sanctions against Russia in the event of an alleged attack.