Moscow, May 20: UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak says he expects the Group of Seven (G7) countries to follow London’s lead when it comes to imposing sanctions against Russia.
On Friday, Sunak announced an embargo on imports of diamonds from Russia. The sanctions also include a $4 billion freeze on the diamond export market. European Council President Charles Michel stated before the G7 summit in Hiroshima, where the issue is also on the agenda, that the European Union was planning to do the same.
“We are talking with our allied countries, our partner countries, and I do expect others to follow, as they have done throughout the last year of this, where we’ve often taken the lead, whether it’s providing resources to Ukraine, or sanctions, and we’ve seen other countries partner with us, because ultimately sanctions are more effective when they’re done in a coordinated fashion and I hope that’s what we’ll see here as well,” Sunak said in an interview with Sky News on Friday.
Tom Neys, the spokesman for the Antwerp World Diamond Centre (AWDC), told Sputnik on Friday that the sanctioning of Russian diamonds by G7 would have a negligible effect on diamond trading in London but would significantly undermine the market in the Belgian city of Antwerp.
The G7 Summit is being held in Japan’s Hiroshima from May 19-21 with a focus on the Ukraine conflict, economic security, green investments, and developments in the Indo-Pacific region.
(UNI)
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