The Minister of Foreign Affairs (MNE) expects a new package of sanctions from the European Union on Russia in the coming weeks, on the 12th, which will cover Russian diamonds, important for the country’s economy, and asked to “focus” on supporting Kiev.
“We are now working on the twelfth package of sanctions. There is still a lot of work to do before crystallizing this package, but I think that in the coming weeks we will reach that point,” said João Gomes Cravinho.
Speaking to the Portuguese press at the end of a meeting of heads of diplomacy of the European Union (EU) in Luxembourg, the Portuguese official confirmed his intention to include Russian diamonds in the list of raw materials with limited exports, pointing out that they are of “a more complex issue than it seems on the surface.”
“It also has to do with the traceability of diamonds, because otherwise it will simply be the transfer of a market that is currently in Europe to other parts of the world, but I think that today we are very close to an agreement on this matter”, noted João Gomes Cravinho.
Russia exported diamonds worth almost five billion dollars (4.6 billion euros) in 2021, according to the Economic Complexity Observatory.
The United Arab Emirates, India and Belgium, an EU member state, are among the main importers.
According to the head of Portuguese diplomacy, the closest thing to an agreement is the release of new funds to support Ukraine within the framework of the European Peace Support Mechanism.
“Today, more than a few weeks ago, before the Middle East crisis, it is necessary to continue supporting Ukraine, in particular in relation to the eighth tranche of the European Peace Support Mechanism. We are very close to an agreement and I believe that that it will be possible to reach this understanding very quickly,” said João Gomes Cravinho.
According to the Portuguese minister, this matter will be discussed at this week’s European Council in Brussels.
This package intended to help Ukraine confront the Russian invasion continues to be blocked by Hungary, in an action by Budapest to challenge the inclusion of the Hungarian bank OTP on the “blacklist” of sponsors of the war in Ukraine.
Today’s meeting was dominated by tension in the Middle East, due to the conflict between the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas and Israel, but also served to address the EU’s support for Ukraine due to the war caused by the Russian invasion and the sanctions already taken against Russia. .
João Gomes Cravinho highlighted that among the 27 EU Member States there is “a lot of consensus on the need not to lose focus, concentrating on a challenge that is of the greatest geostrategic importance for everyone in Europe.”
The Russian military offensive on Ukrainian territory has plunged Europe into what is considered the most serious security crisis since World War II.
Source: TSF
