Belgium’s commerce in Russian diamonds may change into a supply of disgrace for the symbolic EU nation, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky has warned.
“Right here, we combat towards the tyranny which needs to divide Europe which needs to destroy these for whom freedom is crucial,” Zelensky mentioned by video-link from Kyiv to Belgian MPs in Brussels on Thursday (31 March).
“There are individuals for whom the Russian diamonds generally offered in Antwerp are extra vital,” he added.
Zelensky thanked Belgians for taking refugees and sending arms.
However he additionally highlighted its diamond commerce in wider appeals for EU nations to do extra to cease the circulation of cash to Russian president Vladimir Putin and his cronies.
“Peace is extra priceless than diamonds and agreements with Russia, than Russian ships in ports, than Russian oil and fuel,” Zelensky mentioned.
His remarks have been the most recent in a sequence of button-pushing speeches to EU capitals.
“You [Belgium] are as a rustic ‘on the coronary heart of Europe’. Be an instance for others, to assist us push again the Russians,” Zelensky mentioned Thursday, referring to Belgium’s function because the EU capital.
He spoke of Russia’s assault on the Ukrainian metropolis of Mariupol as a battle “no much less horrible than these you knew at Ypres,” referring to World Struggle 1-era warfare in Belgium.
“Persons are buried proper within the metropolis [Mariupol], within the yards of high-rise buildings,” he mentioned.
Belgium performs host to the world’s largest buying and selling centre for uncut diamonds — the town of Antwerp which handles 85 % of the world’s uncut stones in a multibillion-euro business price five5 % of Belgium’s exports.
Russia is a number one diamond exporter.
The Antwerp diamond commerce has been linked to Russian money-laundering schemes and espionage actions in Belgium by Belgium’s home intelligence company, the VSSE.
It has additionally been linked to Russian prison cash by Invoice Browder, a British sanctions campaigner.
EU financial sanctions on Russia haven’t touched its diamond sector to date. They’ve additionally allowed oil and fuel cash to circulation to Russia on account of European vitality dependency.
Alexander De Croo, the Belgian prime minister, pledged to maintain sending weapons to Ukraine after listening to Zelensky’s deal with Thursday.
“We now have been known as upon to decide on a facet. Belgium has performed it and can proceed to take action,” De Croo mentioned.
He pledged to speed up Ukraine’s EU integration after the struggle.
However he joined an extended checklist of Nato leaders who dominated out imposing a no-fly zone on Russian air energy in Ukraine regardless of Kyiv’s ongoing calls for.
“I perceive your frustration,” Croo mentioned Thursday.
“As an instance it bluntly: that might imply taking pictures down Russian planes and thus triggering an escalation that would topple all of Europe,” the Belgian chief mentioned.
Talking the identical day in Brussels, Nato secretary basic Jens Stoltenberg mentioned Russia confirmed no indicators of de-escalation on the battlefield.
“Based on our intelligence, Russian items should not withdrawing, however repositioning,” he mentioned. “So we will count on extra offensive actions, bringing much more struggling.”