The ministers agreed to expand the list of sanctioned individuals and business entities in Russia, and take further action if the situation deteriorates.

Erjavec said that further economic sanctions would not make sense at this point due to the poor economic situation in Russia, but indicated they could be imposed if the situation escalated any further.

The possibility of new economic sanctions is to be discussed at the February summit.

Meanwhile, EU's interior ministers met in Riga today to discuss anti-terrorist security measures after the Paris attacks, which claimed 17 lives.

They agreed to enhance cooperation with internet companies to prevent radicalisation and increase oversight at the external borders of the Schengen zone.

Slovenia's Interior Ministry State Secretary Boštjan Šefic said that appropriate security measures and tools were already available but should be used more efficiently and coherently.

He pointed to the project of the Radicalisation Awareness Network (RAN) as an example of best practices, and called for better exchange of intelligence data.

The debate on terrorism will continue on Friday at a meeting of justice ministers, including Slovenia's Goran Klemenčič.