The provisional agreement comes as President Putin approves the incorporation of four former Ukrainian regions into Russia

EU nations have reached a preliminary agreement on an eighth round of sanctions on Russia, Reuters reported on Friday, citing sources in diplomatic circles.

Envoys from across the 27-nation bloc discussed the proposals made by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen earlier this week, and reportedly gave an initial green light, with a final approval expected to come as soon as next week.

On Wednesday, the top official revealed a new package of "biting" sanctions that include more trade curbs, individual blacklisting and steps towards a price cap on Russian seaborne oil deliveries to third countries.

EU companies would also be barred from providing more services to Russia while European citizens would not be allowed to sit on boards of Russian state companies as per the proposal.

The fresh penalties will have to be approved unanimously by all EU member states before they can be officially introduced. However, the bloc has been split on the oil price cap issue, with Hungary being the most vocal critic of the move.

Earlier this week, Gergely Gulyas, a senior official in the government of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, said that Budapest won't support any new Western sanctions if they target Russian energy, as Hungary is heavily dependent on those supplies.

In May, Budapest secured a waiver for itself when an embargo on importing Russian oil was included in one of the previous rounds of sanctions.

The new proposal has now to go to the bloc's national leaders meeting in Prague on October 6-7, the sources told the agency.

So far, Brussels has adopted seven rounds of sanctions, targeting Russia's financial sector, individuals and entities, as well as coal and gold, among other things.

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(RT.com)