G7 to impose new sanctions on Russian aircraft, ships and diamonds

Officials say that the G7 countries are preparing new economic sanctions against Russia. These include ships, aircrafts, individuals, and diamonds. They want to increase pressure on Russia’s war machine.

A plan to limit the imports of diamonds by Russia, announced as G7 leaders gather in Hiroshima (Japan), targets one of Moscow’s few remaining industries that has been relatively unaffected by Western sanctions.

The Kremlin invasion of Ukraine, and efforts to expand sanctions that have already severely hurt Russia’s oil revenues, are expected to dominate the summit of the leading economies.

The meeting will begin on Friday and end on Sunday. Its goal is to reduce the diamond mining revenue in Russia by introducing a system for tracking and tracing gemstones, which does not currently exist.

The “traceability initiative”, included in a draft G7 joint statement, is meant to prevent Moscow from bypassing sanctions through India, the largest diamond polishing industry in the world.

Senior US officials added that Washington will apply new sanctions against more than 300 Russians, including individuals, ships and planes.

He also said that the US Commerce Department would add 70 Russian groups on the “entity” list, a blacklist which effectively bars companies from exporting American-made products to Russia.

The official stated that “we are increasing the pressure on Russia in terms of economic pressure”

The British government announced that it would be preparing individual designations for 86 additional people and companies in the military industrial complex of President Vladimir Putin, as well as those involved in the energy and metals industries and the shipping industry.

Rishi Sunak will announce UK Prime Minister Rishi’s plans to unilaterally ban the imports of Russian copper, nickel, and aluminium.

London announced that it has already sanctioned the state-owned diamond company Alrosa, and has lifted tariffs on Russian Diamonds by another 35 per cent.

“Today’s news goes even further.” “We will introduce legislation later this year that will ban the import of Russian diamonds and stop all imports from Russia of copper, aluminum and nickel. This is in addition to existing bans on Russian iron and steel.”

The British government announced that it would be preparing individual designations for 86 additional people and companies in the military industrial complex of President Vladimir Putin, as well the industries of energy, metals, and shipping.

Rishi Sunak will announce UK plans to unilaterally ban imports of Russian copper, nickel, and aluminium. London announced that it has already imposed sanctions against the state-owned diamond manufacturer Alrosa, and raised tariffs on Russian Diamonds by another 35 percent.

Today’s announcement is more than that. The UK government announced that it would introduce legislation later this year banning imports from Russia of diamonds and ending all imports for Russian-origin aluminium, nickel and copper. This will build on the existing bans against Russian iron and steel.

Ukraine is poised to launch a military offensive, as its allies warn of a possible peak in support for the war.

The decline in Russia’s revenues from energy, which fell by more than 50% in the first three months of this year has increased the importance for other sources of funding to fund the Kremlin war machine. In 2021, diamond exports will generate $4bn.

The G7 has been arguing for months about how to implement a system that can trace Russian diamonds to restrict their import.

According to Edahn Golan a diamond analyst, Alrosa produces 40 percent of the diamonds in the world by volume.

The EU was unable to agree on a ban of Russian diamond imports before the G7 Summit. Officials from member states say that they are progressing in finding a consensus among 27 countries.

EU officials have said that the bloc will first focus on getting India and other countries outside the west to agree to the G7 initiative for tracking and identifying Russian-produced diamonds.

“We’re confident that we’ll have a [diamond tracing] system set up. . . “In the coming months,” stated an EU official who was involved in G7 discussions.

A second EU official confirmed that the agreement was already in place. “We no longer see any objections.” “We have convinced others.”

In a joint press release issued after a bilateral summit, Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Melons and Japan’s Fumio Kishda “affirmed their commitment to maintain severe sanctions against Russia as well as strong support for Ukraine”.

Japanese officials confirmed that Tokyo will also implement “powerful sanctions” in line with the other G7 countries, and would target diamond imports.