The European Commission is set to adopt on Friday its seventh package of sanctions against Russia, which will add a ban to the import of Russian gold and tweak existing restrictive measures to avoid hampering food exports, two officials told Reuters, the latter reported.

The new measures are considered "a maintenance and alignment package," one of the officials said, referring to it as a "sixth-and-a-half" set of sanctions for its limited scope compared with previous rounds that hit Russian oil or coal.

However, some measures could have a serious impact on the affected sectors.

The draft package includes a ban on imports of Russian gold into the EU, a proposal first reported by Reuters in June and which would come into force with the adoption of the new sanctions.

One source said imports of Russian gold through third countries would also be affected, but did not elaborate on how it would work.

Brussels will also tighten existing measures, with new curbs on the imports of goods that could be used for military purposes, including chemicals and machinery, the source said.

The Commission will also amend existing sanctions to make sure they do not hit Russia's food and grain exports, the three officials said.

African countries have said EU sanctions contributed to the ongoing food crisis.

The EU has long denied that its sanctions affected food trade. Proposed tweaks are meant to make sure that rules are not misinterpreted by traders, including a ban on access of Russian ships to EU ports, one official said.

Under that measure, Russian ships are already allowed to enter EU ports if they carry food or medicines.

But some traders have avoided food exported from Russian ports that are indirectly owned by Russian state-owned companies that have been sanctioned by Brussels. The new package will clarify that these ports are exempted from sanctions, the source said.

The EU Commission is expected to adopt the new measures later on Friday, said the two people who declined to be named. EU envoys are set to discuss the new package next week for final approval before the summer break.