HELSINKI - Finland and Sweden believe the EU needs to ramp up sanctions against Russia following the death in prison of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billstrom said on Tuesday.

"The fact we can see that the death of Alexei Navalny is clearly linked to the leadership in Russia makes it necessary to see to it that we can add sanctions specifically targeting those who are responsible for his death," he told a joint news conference with his Finnish counterpart Elina Valtonen.

"We also believe of course that the sanctions as a whole, the sanctions package, should be enlarged because we see that the sanctions are making a difference when it comes to crippling the ability of Russia to wage its illegal war against Ukraine," he said.

He said the two Nordic countries also wanted to see a sanctions regime established against Belarus related to its support to Russia in the war. REUTERS