EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell stated on Monday that European Union officials were finalising the 12th package of sanctions on Russia, which would include a ban on diamonds.
The European Commission, the EU’s executive body, may approve the proposed package on Wednesday, after which it will go to the EU Council for discussion and approval.
Since the start of the war in Ukraine, the EU has already applied 11 sanctions packages against Moscow to reduce Russia’s financial capacity. The measures, which affect several sectors, cover about 1,800 individuals and entities.
“This twelfth package will include … new export bans, among them … diamonds, actions to tighten the oil price cap, in order to decrease the revenue that Russia is getting from selling its oil — not to us but to others — [and] fighting against circumvention.”
Last week, EU diplomats reported that the 27-nation bloc was waiting for the G7’s green light to push ahead with the diamond ban.
We are finalising the last details of this package.