Five countries of the European Union - Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Ireland - insist on a ban on the import of diamonds from Russia into the Union as part of the measures with which the Europeans respond to the escalation of the conflict in Ukraine, reports Reuters, BNR reported.

If passed, the embargo would force Moscow to divert billions of dollars a year in trade and hit the world's largest diamond trading hub, Antwerp.

Such a ban has already been proposed, but has always been vetoed by Belgium.

Earlier this month, Belgian Prime Minister Alexandre de Croix explained that a possible suspension of Russian diamond imports would be a "huge loss" and a blow to an industry that accounts for 5 percent of Belgium's exports and supports 30,000 jobs in the country.

According to Reuters sources, however, the Belgian government was inclined to give up its veto after Russian President Vladimir Putin

Vladimir Putin - Russian politician.

Born on October 7, 1952 in Leningrad, now St. Petersburg. Prez announced mobilization and intentions to annex tens of thousands of square kilometers of Ukrainian territory.

The Russian group of companies "Alrosa" is the largest producer of rough diamonds in the world - 30 percent of the global production in 2021.

Its sales in the last year before the war amounted to 4.2 billion dollars - mainly to Belgium, India and the United Arab Emirates.

Kyiv, which first pushed for an embargo on Russian diamonds, has pointed out that Russia is using the proceeds to finance its aggression against Ukraine.

Vladimir Putin