The Council of the European Union (EU) announced new sanctions imposed on the corporate PJSC Alrosa and its CEO Pavel Alekseevich Marinychev on Wednesday. The EU Council claimed that the sanctions imposed symbolize the unwavering assist for Ukraine’s independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity. The sanction additionally serves because the Council’s resolute condemnation of Russia’s war of aggression in opposition to Ukraine, which manifestly violated the UN Charter.
The choice added PJSC Alrosa and its CEO to the checklist of sanctioned individuals and entities that has been in place since March 2014, after the Russian invasion of Crimea. The EU Council contended that the corporate accounts for over 90 % of all Russian diamond manufacturing and constitutes a considerable income to the Russian authorities. The EU Council alleged that the corporate and its CEO are liable for the annexation of Crimea and the destabilisation of Ukraine by offering monetary assist to the Russian authorities and its longstanding partnership with the Russian Armed Forces.
The sanction can be part of the EU’s twelfth sanction bundle since February 2022. The bundle features a full prohibition on the commerce of diamonds from Russia, together with non-industrial pure and artificial diamonds and diamond jewelry. A later phase-in may also start in March 2024 to additional ban the oblique import of Russian diamonds processed in third international locations. Aside from the EU, the member states of the Group of Seven (G7) additionally committed to impose import restrictions on Russian diamonds in early December.
Aside from the diamond ban, the bundle features a “No Russia” clause, which prohibits EU exporters from re-exportation of notably delicate items and know-how. The clause intends to cowl the objects that the Russian navy methods used on the battlefield in Ukraine equivalent to aviation items and weapons. As well as, the sanction bundle expands the checklist of import-export controls that might contribute to the technological enhancement of Russia’s defence and safety sector, together with chemical substances, lithium batteries and equipment components. Moreover, the sanction bundle seeks to increase its enforcement and anti-circumvention measures to extra items and objects. Lastly, the bundle introduces a strengthened information-sharing mechanism to implement the oil value cap.
With the twelfth sanction bundle, the EU has utilized sanctions to virtually 1950 people and entities. These sanctions embrace asset freezes and prohibition of EU residents and firms from making funds accessible to sanctioned targets. Sanctioned pure individuals are additionally topic to journey restrictions that prohibit them from coming into EU territories.