The European Commission has proposed banning imports of diamonds and liquefied petroleum gas from Russia, as well as tightening price caps on Russian oil as part of new sanctions against Moscow, EU diplomats said on Wednesday, Reuters reported.

The 12th package of sanctions, which the 27 member states of the European Union will discuss on Friday, also includes a ban on the transit through Russia of goods and technologies that can increase the country’s industrial potential, as well as a ban on the import of a number of metals. .

Agreement on the final sanctions package is expected only after weeks of negotiations, given that it will require unanimous support from all 27 EU states.

The proposal calls for a ban on direct imports of diamonds from Russia from January 1, 2024, and the introduction in March of a tracking mechanism that would prevent imports of Russian gems processed in third countries, diplomatic sources in the EU said.

The tracking mechanism must be agreed with the G7 countries, including the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and Japan.

Thus, from January 2024, the EU ban applies to natural or synthetic diamonds and jewelry, and from September – to Russian diamonds cut in other countries.

Moscow is accused of financing part of its military campaign against Ukraine thanks to the lucrative diamond trade, which amounts to 4-5 billion dollars a year, AFP reports, writes Agerpres.

Belgium expressed its reluctance to these sanctions adopted by the G7 member countries and proposed a solution, including through a labeling system, to make the sanctions effective without harming its own diamond industry, which thrives in Antwerp (north-west Belgium). .

The EU wants to make sanctions against Russian oil more effective

To strengthen compliance with the oil price ceiling set by the G7 at $60 a barrel of crude oil, the new sanctions package requires shipping companies to detail the shipping and insurance costs of the Russian oil cargo they carry.

The commission said the package would include new import and export bans, measures to tighten the oil price cap and counter EU sanctions circumvention, and would target actors in Russia’s military, defense and IT sectors, as well as other major economic factors.

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The Financial Times reported that Denmark will be tasked with inspecting and possibly blocking Russian oil tankers passing through its waters under new EU plans to impose restrictions on Russian oil.

Denmark will target oil tankers that pass through the Danish straits without Western insurance, the newspaper said, adding that all of Russia’s oil transported through the Baltic Sea, or about 60 percent of its total seaborne exports, passes through the Danish straits on its way to international markets

The commission did not comment on the FT report, but an EU official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the new package did not impose new obligations on Denmark to comply with the price cap. Several EU diplomats also said the Commission’s proposal did not mention Denmark or any ship inspections.

The proposal also expands the list of goods that cannot be sold to Russia because they could help Moscow in its war against Ukraine, and bans the sale of software for industrial production, diplomats said.

If approved, the commission said the proposal would “also impose sanctions on more than 120 additional individuals and entities for their role in undermining the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine.”