The European Union moved closer to new sanctions against Moscow over its war on Ukraine, as Yulia Navalnaya, the widow of Alexei Navalny, said President Vladimir Putin must be held accountable.
Germany, Lithuania and Sweden were among EU countries calling for specific new penalties against Russia over the death of Mr Navalny in a remote penal colony in Russia's Arctic on Friday.
That came during a meeting of the 27 EU foreign ministers, which had been scheduled before Mr Navalny's death, to discuss a package of fresh penalties to mark two years since Russia's unleashed a full-scale invasion of Ukraine on 24 February.
Hungary, the last EU country needed to pass the proposed new restrictions against nearly 200 more firms and people deemed involved in the war, said it would not stall what was the bloc's 13th package of Russia sanctions since Moscow invaded Ukraine.
The EU's top diplomat suggested that Russian prison officials linked to Mr Navalny's death could be added to the list of those subjected to asset freezes and travel bans.
There was no immediate word of any more hard-hitting measures that could target Russia's broader economy and an EU diplomat said so far it seemed any specific new sanctions related to Mr Navalny's death would be "symbolic" and come later.
Navalny's widow will 'continue to fight'
His wife, who attended today's meeting in Brussels, said she would continue her late husband's fight, and called on supporters to hold Mr Putin accountable and fight him with more determination than ever.
European diplomats said that she reiterated her determination to keep up the struggle and called on the bloc to do more to target Mr Putin's circle drawing a standing ovation from the room.
She also warned against striking any deals with the Russian leader or hoping that he would change, they said.
In a nine-minute video message before the meeting, Ms Navalnaya said President Putin had killed her husband and in doing so had robbed her of a husband and her two children of a father.
However, she said the only answer to such a crime was to continue her late husband's fight for a free and prosperous Russia.
Russians, she said, wanted to live differently, even if there appeared little hope.
"I want to live in a free Russia, I want to build a free Russia," Ms Navalnaya said in the video message entitled: "I will continue the work of Alexei Navalny."
"I urge you to stand next to me," she said. "I ask you to share the rage with me. Rage, anger, hatred towards those who dared to kill our future."
"Vladimir Putin killed my husband," she said. "By killing Alexei, Putin killed half of me - half of my heart and half of my soul."
"But I still have the other half, and it tells me that I have no right to give up. I will continue the work of Alexei Navalny, continue to fight for our country."
Sanctions could be agreed this week
"The EU will spare no efforts to hold Russia's political leadership and authorities to account, in close coordination with our partners; and impose further costs for their actions, including through sanctions," EU foreign ministers said in a joint statement after their meeting with Ms Navalnaya in Brussels.
They said Mr Putin and Russian authorities held the ultimate responsibility for the death of Mr Navalny and called for "an independent and transparent international investigation".
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said she hoped the 27-nation EU would agree on the package of sanctions soon.
EU officials say that could happen on Wednesday.
"We have seen the brutal force with which the Russian president represses his own citizens who take to the streets to demonstrate for freedom or write about it in newspapers," she said. "We will propose new sanctions in light of the death of Alexei Navalny."
The bloc's top diplomat said he expected EU countries to seek targeted sanctions against certain Russian officials over the death of the 47-year-old former lawyer who built his profile on fighting state corruption in Russia.
"(EU) member states will propose sanctions for sure against those responsible," said the bloc's foreign policy chief Josep Borrell who chaired the talks.
"We can go down the institutional structure of the penitentiary system in Russia," he said indicating whom the bloc might sanction next for what he called "slow murder" of Mr Navalny in Russian jails.
Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said that imposing more EU sanctions on Russia made no sense and would only hurt the bloc's economy. But he added Budapest would not veto the package.
"There is no reason to veto it," he said. "Although I think the EU is making a wrong decision."
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who has said in the past that he is "proud" about his Russia contacts, has stalled previous rounds of sanctions, as well as EU agreements on financial assistance to Kyiv.
The EU says it has cut Russia trade by some €135 billion since the invasion through military, energy, aviation, transport and financial sanctions, among others.
