The EU and Russia “concerned” with new US proposals

Sanctions could affect joint energy projects.

Dmitry Peskov, spokesman for Russian President Vladimir Putin, said Russia is working with European partners in implementing “a number of large-scale projects”.

“We and our European partners attach great importance to the completion of these projects and we will work together in this direction”, Peskov said, responding to journalists' question about the possible impact of sanctions on projects like Nordic Stream 2.

Nordic 2 is a pipeline that will carry Russian gas through the Baltic Sea in Europe.

This is why sanctions, which could hinder these projects, present concern for us”, Peskov said.

In Brussels, European Commission spokesman Margaritis Schinas said the EU “has activated all diplomatic channels to address these concerns with American counterparts”.

The European Union and the United States have imposed sanctions on Russia since 2014 because of its involvement in the war in eastern Ukraine and the annexation of the Ukrainian Crimea Peninsula.

On Sunday, White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said this institution would continue working with the House of Representatives and the US Senate to impose stricter Russian sanctions, “until the situation in Ukraine is fully resolved”.