Media: G7 countries will soon announce an indirect ban on diamonds from Russia

The G7 countries will announce an indirect ban on the import of Russian diamonds within two to three weeks. writes Reuters, citing a Belgian government spokesman.

“The ban will come into force in January,” the agency says.

19 May President of the European Council Charles Michel saidthat the EU plans to limit trade in Russian diamonds. As the media noted at the time, the restrictions were opposed by Belgium, which feared the consequences for the Antwerp Diamond Center. The restrictions, the center estimated, will deprive it of about 30% of its business. On the same day, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced on introducing a ban on the import of Russian diamonds, copper, nickel and aluminum.

In the Kremlin, commenting on EU plans to limit trade in Russian diamonds, notedthat this will only lead to the formation of gaps, since the world market is rich in alternatives.

At the end of March 2022, the UK authorities imposed sanctions on Alrosa, which supplies about a third of the world’s rough diamonds. In April of the same year, the United States, Canada and Australia imposed sanctions against the company. The EU in March introduced a ban on the import of luxury goods including precious stones. After the imposition of sanctions, the Swiss group Richemont (which owns the brands Cartier, Van Cleef & Arpels, Piaget and Jaeger-LeCoultre) and the American Tiffany & Co., owned by LVMH, refused to purchase Russian diamonds.

Last September, Bloomberg wrote that the global gem market was divided into two camps due to sanctions against Alrosa: a group of buyers from India and Belgium were secretly buying large volumes of diamonds mined in Russia on favorable terms, while many Western companies trying to abandon Russian products.