EU leaders announced tough new sanctions on Russia on Sunday, such as closing the entirety of EU airspace to Russian planes – including private jets – and banning Russian state media outlets RT and Sputnik, which European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen called “the Kremlin’s media machine".

Speaking beside EU foreign policy chief Josep Borell, European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said Russia Today and Sputnik "will no longer be able to spread their lies to justify Putin’s war and to sow division in our union”. Von der Leyen also said the bloc was taking the unprecedented step of financing €450 million in arms to Ukraine and introducing restrictions on exports from Russian ally Belarus.

The EU’s official statement reads: “Second, in another unprecedented step, we will ban in the EU the Kremlin's media machine.

The state-owned Russia Today and Sputnik, as well as their subsidiaries will no longer be able to spread their lies to justify Putin's war and to saw division in our Union.

So we are developing tools to ban their toxic and harmful disinformation in Europe.”

Speaking in a joint news conference in Brussels on Sunday, the EU's High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell announced that the bloc would ban the two outlets in a bid "to fight" Russian disinformation.

"Today we are taking a crucial step to turn off the tap for the Russian's information manipulation in Europe by banning Russia Today and Sputnik from broadcasting in the European Union," Borrell said.

"We are killing the snake on its neck," the diplomat continued.