Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky thanked the European Union on Monday evening for approving a new package of sanctions against Russia, the 12th, affecting Russian diamonds.
In his daily message to the nation, Zelensky said that “it is important to include for the first time a ban on Russian diamonds” that are not intended for industrial purposes.
The Ukrainian president recalled that the new package also includes measures “against the avoidance of sanctions and against the supply of dual-use goods and technologies”, of a civilian nature, but which can be used in the military industry to Russia.
This year has proven the importance of long-term support programs.
They not only provide assistance, but also send a clear signal of confident support for Ukraine around the world. We will continue to work on it.
I thank every state and leader that has already adopted such policies. pic.twitter.com/LcB7IhhHZD
– Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) December 18, 2023
Zelensky stated that these measures and other “new import restrictions from Russia” will serve to reduce “the economic bases of the war.”
“We will continue to work with our partners to ensure that the sanctions imposed by Europe work globally,” the Ukrainian head of state stressed.
Ukraine has continuously asked the EU to adopt measures to prevent the circumvention of sanctions already in force.
Kiev accused Russia of ignoring many of the existing restrictions by importing goods covered by the sanctions through third countries.
Ukraine stressed that numerous Western-made components still appear in the weapons used by the Russian army in the invasion of the country.
Ukraine’s Economy Ministry said the EU-approved sanctions package requires the introduction “in export contracts of a ban on re-exporting, to Russia or for Russian use, goods and technologies” that Russia uses to manufacture weapons.
The new European sanctions also expand the list of goods whose sale to Russia is prohibited and declare illegal the transit through Russia of military goods from the EU destined for third countries.
The sanctions package approved by the EU Council includes a reinforcement of sanctions on oil exports, which were already in place after the Austrian blockade.
“These measures represent another blow to the ability to do that [Presidente russo, Vladimir] Putin will go to war because they target high-value sectors of the Russian economy and make it more difficult to circumvent EU sanctions,” the Spanish presidency of the Union said in a statement.
European sources told the Lusa agency that the Council has given a “green light” to this new package of restrictive measures, which includes new restrictions on Russian exports such as diamonds, as well as new lists of entities and people targeted, after several days of blockade by part of Austria.
Austria contested Ukraine’s inclusion of the Austrian bank Raiffeisen Bank in the list of sanctioned entities, and therefore prevented the adoption of this twelfth package of sanctions, a position it has now changed, according to the same community sources.
Source: DN
