Britain pressed the European Union on Tuesday to increase sanctions against Russia, saying it should stand "shoulder to shoulder" with the United States, which hit Moscow with new economic restrictions this month.

Britain's foreign minister, Jeremy Hunt, said that Russian President Vladimir Putin has made the world "a more dangerous place", and that after a chemical weapons attack in the English city of Salisbury, the EU should apply more pressure to ensure Russia sticks to international rules.

Asked about Hunt's speech, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Britain had too high an opinion of itself and was trying to impose its Russia policy on the EU and the United States, the RIA news agency reported.

EU officials said Britain had not yet proposed any new sanctions on Russia to the other 27 EU member states.

Britain is preparing to leave the EU next March, but currently follows EU-level sanctions policy on Russia, agreed by all member states.

...