MUNICH, February 18. /TASS/. The European Union and the United States started to work on sanctions against Moscow two months before the launch of Russia’s special military operation, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said at the Munich Security Conference on Saturday.

"Our American friends - way more than a year ago - started to do something completely unprecedented. They took their intelligence, knowledge and put it on the public market. This gave us an early warning. My cabinet and the commission started to work with the White House and the Treasury already in December on potential sanctions," she pointed out, adding that they hoped they "will never have to use these sanctions."

Von der Leyen also called for increasing pressure on Russia and weapons supplies to Ukraine.

"I think it’s now the time to really speed up and scale up the production of standardized products that Ukraine needs desperately, for example, standardized ammunition," she noted, highlighting the need to engage the European Peace Facility. "We need now to so what we’ve done during the pandemic," von der Leyen added.