European Union countries are considering banning Russian ships from entering EU ports in a bid to tighten maritime restrictions following the suspension of air traffic, Reuters reported.

Britain has already decided to deny entry to British ports to all ships owned, operated, controlled, chartered, registered or sailing under the Russian flag.

The Danish Foreign Ministry said EU foreign ministers had discussed closing European ports to Russian ships on Sunday.

"Denmark is actively working to ensure that the EU takes a general decision to close its ports to Russian vessels," the foreign ministry said in a statement.

“We have already decided to close the Danish airspace to Russian aircraft. At the same time, we are open to looking at new initiatives in collaboration with our European partners.”

A French government spokesman told Reuters that the EU was working on new sanctions and possible port closures for Russian ships, but added that any additional steps should affect Russia "“proportionally much more than our own economies”.

A Greek government official said Athens “will implement any decision the European Commission takes on this issue”.

A European Commission spokesperson said there was no such ban in force at the moment. “But we continue working on further sanctions, which will be announced in due course,” the spokesperson added.

The European Parliament will on Tuesday vote on a non-binding resolution calling for EU ports to be closed to Russian ships and ships coming to or from Russia, except for “necessary justified humanitarian reasons”, which could add political pressure for the bloc to act.