United States President Joe Biden on Monday will hold a video teleconference with the leaders of France, Britain and Germany. 

During the video conference, they will discuss developments in Ukraine as the U.S. pushes its allies on a possible Russian oil ban.

NATO countries have ramped up their presence in the Baltic nations since Russia’s February 24 invasion of Ukraine and more troops and equipment were on the way, policy makers had said.

After Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the White House slapped sanctions on exports of technologies to Russia’s refineries and the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, which had never launched.

So far, it had stopped short of targeting Russia’s oil and gas exports as the Biden’s  administration weighed the impacts on global oil markets and U.S. energy prices.

The U.S. and European partners were exploring banning Russian oil imports, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Sunday, but stressed the importance of steady oil supplies globally.

Oil prices had soared over the past week after the U.S. and its allies sanctioned Russia following its invasion of Ukraine.

(Reuters/NAN)