European Parliament discusses imposing sanctions on Russia’s diamonds

Espreso correspondent Tetiana Vysotska reported this from the European Parliament. 

"There is no sense that the pressure on Russia is being eased. On the contrary, there is a very active debate that the next package of sanctions may include Russian diamonds," said Vysotska. 

"The diamond trade is a very large part of Putin's income, and it continues to exist in the EU, including in the EU. There were warnings that Belgium, for example, would be affected, because its city of Antwerp is one of the centers of the diamond trade. Russian dealers are also present there. But now the scales are tilting towards the fact that Russian diamonds will be restricted, which is positive news," added the Espreso correspondent.

• On February 19, the EU and the G7 were preparing to impose sanctions against Russian diamonds.

• On March 7, US and EU officials met with industry executives to discuss the introduction of effective restrictions against the Russian diamond industry.

• On April 27, the Belgian House of Representatives passed a resolution calling for a ban on the import of Russian diamonds into the European Union.

• On May 10, Belgium proposed to create a system for tracking the movement of Russian diamonds and said it was ready to add Russian ports to the package of sanctions.