EU officials called a fresh meeting yesterday to discuss a new round of sanctions against Moscow after failing to reach unanimous agreement on the measures, diplomatic sources said.

European capitals were supposed to give formal approval yesterday to the sanctions, which include limiting access to financial markets by Russian oil giants, but had failed to do so, the sources said.

The delay comes as some of the EU's newer member states in eastern Europe — still dependent on Russian trade and energy ties - were uneasy at ratcheting up the sanc-

tions, and as a tenuous Ukraine ceasefire appeared to be holding.

"There will be an extraordinary meeting of the (member state) ambassadors on the sanctions at 6:00 pm (1600 GMT)," an EU diplomat told AFP, after talks apparently did not produce the required unanimous support of all 28 nations.

The new meeting of the ambassadors will “discuss the modalities of implementation

of the Russia sanctions", said the diplomat, who asked not to be named.

When EU officials agreed the new sanctions package Friday, EU heads Herman Van Rompuy and Jose Manuel Barroso had left open the possibility they could be lifted quickly if the ceasefire held, setting the stage for further peace efforts.

Diplomatic sources said the differences apparently revolved around this point, with some member states seeking to incorporate language in the sanctions text that would keep options open for lifting the sanctions.

The new EU sanctions agreed by officials Friday would limit access

to financial markets by Russian oil companies such as Rosneft and Transneft plus the petroleum unit of gas giant Gazprom, diplomatic sources said yesterday.

The new sanctions build on those agreed at the end of July when EU leaders, stung into action by the shooting down over Ukraine of a Malaysia Airlines plane, decided to target whole economic sectors on top of travel bans and asset freezes against individuals.