The European Commission is preparing tariffs on agricultural imports from Russia and Belarus, the EU executive's trade commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis said on Thursday.

V. Dombrovskis said the commission was seeking to put pressure on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine and therefore welcomed requests from some EU countries to "impose the broadest possible tariffs on imports from Russia and Belarus".

Sweden, Finland, Poland, the Baltic States and Ireland have tabled the proposal to impose tariffs ahead of a meeting of EU trade ministers in Brussels.

The EU Trade Commissioner explained that tariffs could also be applied to tariffs, but gave no further details.

In October, EU leaders reaffirmed their readiness to impose more sanctions and other measures to further limit Russia's ability to wage war.

Their resolution mentions the possibility of imposing additional tariffs on Russian and Belarusian agricultural products.