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Anti-Russian sanctions

EU to ban import of Russian diamonds as part of 12th sanctions package — portal

The G7-ban and its traceability protocols were reportedly crafted together with Belgium, which hosts the world's biggest diamond-trading center in Antwerp, and the European Commission

BRUSSELS, October 20. /TASS/. Russian diamonds will be included in the 12th package of EU sanctions against Moscow, the EUObserver portal reported referring to a European diplomat.

"The system has been ready for a few weeks and now what we're waiting for is the final G7 declaration to put it into words and confirm the will of the G7 to work with this system," the diplomat said as quoted by the portal.

The G7-ban and its traceability protocols were crafted together with Belgium, which hosts the world's biggest diamond-trading center in Antwerp, and the European Commission, the portal said.

According to EUObserver, behind-closed-doors talks on a new package of EU anti-Russian sanctions will start this weekend or next week. These talks will also discuss the use of frozen Russian assets to finance Ukraine. The parties will consider proposals from Lithuania and Poland to introduce restrictions on Russian IT services, liquefied natural gas, uranium and steel, as well as to include the Rosatom state corporation in the sanctions lists. Estonia insists on a complete trade embargo against Russia.

Earlier, European and American media reported that the G7 was working on a mechanism for tracking the origin of diamonds by their chemical composition, which would make it possible to identify diamonds mined in Russia and limit their imports according to this principle, even if they were cut in other countries, such as India.

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Sanctions vs. Russia EU

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