Ambassadors of the European Union member states approved the fifth package of anti-Russian sanctions on Thursday, which, among other things, introduces restrictions on financial institutions and prohibits coal imports from Russia and high-tech exports to Russia, Tass reports

The French presidency of the European Council said in a Twitter post: "This meaningful package of sanctions against Russia extends the sanctions to new spheres."

"It includes, among other things, asset freeze of several Russian banks, ban on coal imports from Russia, arms embargo on Russia, ban on exports to Russia, including high-tech goods," the French presidency said.

The volume of sanctions-hit export is estimated at 10 billion euro, while restrictions on imports of "raw materials and critically important materials" will affect products worth 5.5 billion euro in total.

The statement specifically mentions sanctions against Russian businessmen and "propagandists." European sanctions will also be expanded to include security and military officers and defense enterprises related to Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine.

"This package of measures will be adopted by the European Council under a written procedure and should be published by the Official Journal of the European Union tomorrow," the statement says.

On February 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin said in an early morning televised address that he had launched a special military operation in Ukraine in response to a request for help from the leaders of the Donbass republics. He stressed that Moscow had no intention of occupying Ukrainian territories, the sole purpose of the operation, the leader stressed, is the demilitarization and denazification of Ukraine.

The United States, the United Kingdom, the European Union and some other countries responded by imposing sanctions on Russian individuals and companies.