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EU leaders agree new sanctions against Russia, including ban on diamonds

15.12.2023 07:30
European Union leaders have agreed a 12th round of punitive measures against Russia for its invasion of Ukraine, including a direct ban on Russian diamonds.
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Photo:EU2017EE Estonian Presidency, CC BY 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

The EU leaders, including Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk, made the decision at a summit in Brussels on Thursday night.

"The European Council welcomes the adoption of the 12th package of sanctions," they stated in their conclusions on Ukraine. 

The measure includes a direct embargo on the import of Russian diamonds from January, The Kyiv Independent website reported.

There will also be a phased ban on the import of "Russian diamonds processed in third countries" starting in March, in alignment with Group of Seven (G7) nations, according to officials. 

Russia may conquer Ukraine if US cuts off aid to Kyiv: ISW

"A Russian conquest of all of Ukraine is by no means impossible if the United States cuts off all military assistance and Europe follows suit," the US-based Institute for the Study of War warned on Thursday.

Such a result would bring the Kremlin's army "right up to NATO’s border from the Black Sea to the Arctic Ocean," the US think tank added.

America would then have to deploy a "sizable portion of its ground forces" to NATO's eastern flank and station stealth aircraft in Europe, according to the ISW.  

The operation would cost a fortune and the cost will last as long as the Russian threat continues—potentially indefinitely, the US think tank said.

The ISW's analysis comes as US President Joe Biden's USD 61 billion military aid for Kyiv has stalled in Congress.

Friday is day 660 of Russia's war on Ukraine.

Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022, launching the largest military campaign in Europe since World War II.

(pm/gs)

Source: ISW, European Council, Politico, The Kyiv Independent