The United Kingdom announced a ban on Russian diamonds along with the military-industrial complex and metals in the latest round of sanctions amid the ongoing Ukraine war.
An industry worth USD 4 billion in exports in 2021, the ban on diamonds comes amid the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war. Moreover, the UK also announced a ban on imports of Russian-origin copper, aluminum and nickel, the government said in a statement on Thursday.
Apart from that, the UK is also preparing to target an additional 86 members of Putin's military-industrial complex as well as those engaged in vital industries including energy, metals, and shipping, the statement said.
As the UK continues to engage with G7 allies to address all kinds of sanctions circumvention, they also include those who actively aid the Kremlin in its efforts to weaken the impact of current sanctions, it said.
UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak will also issue a warning against complacency in preserving "our ideals and against despotic governments", as he meets with G7 leaders in Hiroshima, the UK government said.
The UK has also applied the harshest set of sanctions ever placed on a significant economy in a bid to hinder Russia's war efforts, the government further mentioned.
"To date we have sanctioned over 1,500 individuals and entities, freezing more than £18 billion of assets in the UK, and sanctioned over £20 billion of UK-Russia goods trade," the official statement of UK government read.
Along with other G7 leaders, the prime minister is set to visit the A-Bomb dome site at the Hiroshima Peace Park before participating in discussions on global collaboration, the G7 reaction to the Ukraine, Indo-Pacific security policy, and nuclear non-proliferation.
"He will urge the international community to stay the course on Ukraine, ensuring it has the diplomatic, military and economic support it needs, in the interests of international peace and security," the government statement said.
In his meeting with President Zelenskyy on Monday, the Prime Minister confirmed increased military assistance and emphasised the significance of long-term international support for Ukraine, particularly for the country's future in NATO. This announcement comes after that meeting. The leaders talked about Ukraine's road to a stronger political alliance and greater cooperation with G7 and NATO members.
Recently, Russia has considerably increased the number of missile attacks against Ukraine, but it also seems that Ukraine is shooting down more of Russia's missiles.
Meanwhile, the United States will also unveil new sanctions to "extensively restrict Russia's access to goods that matter for its battlefield capabilities," a US official said on Friday ahead of a G7 summit in Japan.
The United States apparently has plans to blacklist about 70 companies and organizations for selling restricted US products to Russia.
The official said, "We will continue to expand export controls to make it even harder for Russia to sustain its war machine. Among other things, this involves extensively restricting categories of goods key to the battlefield, and also cutting off roughly 70 entities from Russia and third countries from receiving US exports by adding them to the Commerce blacklist."
