STRASBOURG, FRANCE (AFP) - The European Union on Tuesday (March 8) pledged to step up its fight against Russian disinformation as fears surge over interference by Moscow after its invasion of Ukraine.

The EU has already banned Russian state media outlets RT and Sputnik from broadcasting across the 27-nation bloc in a bid to curb what Brussels dubs key "weapons in the Kremlin's manipulation ecosystem".

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said he would now propose a new mechanism that could allow the bloc to sanction Moscow's "malign disinformation actors".

"We are witnessing how the Russian assault on Ukraine continues," Mr Borrell told lawmakers at the European Parliament in Strasbourg.

"And this assault painfully highlights why we need to pay more attention to foreign interference, and in particular, to foreign disinformation and information manipulation."

Mr Borrell decried the Kremlin's crackdown on independent reporting and blanket efforts by the "Russian propaganda machine" to justify the attack at home and distort what is happening on the ground.

"President (Vladimir) Putin wants his nation to be blind and deaf. More than that, President Putin I think would like the Russian people to be apathetic," Ms Vera Jourova, EU commissioner for values and transparency, told legislators.

"It is more important than ever to reach the Russian people and provide them with information. Every possible channel should be used."

Ms Jourova praised a decision by streaming giant Netflix to halt services in Russia.

"President Putin wants the people to be entertained, not to pay attention to what's happening," she said.

"It would not be right to see Russians being entertained and next door Ukrainians being killed."

The EU has already bolstered its efforts to counter Kremlin disinformation since Moscow annexed Crimea and began fuelling a war in eastern Ukraine in 2014.

Follow The Straits Times' live coverage on the Ukraine crisis here.