War in Ukraine, sanctions. The EU may introduce the 12th package of sanctions. Restrictions on Russian diamonds

According to unofficial information, the G7 statement regarding the ban on the import of Russian diamonds is to be issued at the end of October, and immediately after it the proposal of the 12th package of European Union sanctions imposed on Russia. – We are waiting for the G7 decision – said one of the EU diplomats.

Applying restrictions on Russian diamonds would be a breakthrough. Some European Union countries have been trying to achieve this practically since the beginning of the war, but to no avail because there is no unanimity on this matter. So far, she has been the most skeptical about this postulate Belgium, where the diamond trade center is located in Antwerp. Introducing restrictions on diamonds is one of Poland’s demands in the EU arena. Warsaw wants the 12th sanctions package to also include an extension of the sanctions blacklists to include additional persons and entities and a ban on the import of LPG from Russia and the use of ICT (information and communication technologies) services from Russia.

The main assumption of the current, 11th package was to tighten the existing restrictions imposed on Russia so that they could not be circumvented.

The package introduced new restrictions on Russian ships calling at European ports, a ban on the use of Russian trailers (in accordance with Poland’s request) and provisions prohibiting the export of certain products to third countries that are used to circumvent European Union sanctions. A new system has been introduced to prevent the circumvention of sanctions by prohibiting the export of certain goods to specific third countries that allowed the export of sanctioned products to Russia. This is subject to specific steps, assuming diplomatic dialogue and the consent of the Council of the European Union.

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