Russian diamonds to come under sanctions?

By Rhod Mackenzie

The Belgian Prime Minister Alexander de Croo presented a plan to abandon Russian gems to the world's leading diamond industry representatives in New York on Tuesday, writes the Belgian publication Soir.
"Alexander de Croo proposed to the elite of the jewellery industry gathered at the residence of the Belgian Consul General in New York to ban Russian diamonds and effectively remove them from the market," the publication reports.

According to him, "a reliable mechanism for tracking diamonds and preventing Russian stones from entering the markets of the G7 countries is almost ready". However, as De Croo stressed, the "effective functioning" of the mechanism and its launch on 1 January 2024 will require the participation of all the leading industry players.
"The new tracking protocol will be based on several control mechanisms, including the Kimberley Process (an international certification system created in 2003 to prevent the flow of rough diamonds from conflict zones to the global market), protected by blockchain technology," Soir said.

Soir notes that if the Belgian plan is successful, "this should lead to the displacement of Russian stones from the market in favour of diamonds from the African continent and a fall in their value". It is not reported how representatives of the global diamond and jewellery industry have reacted to De Croo's initiative.
At the same time, the publication previously wrote that Belgium, which is home to one of the world's centres for the trading and processing these precious stones, the city of Antwerp, would suffer major losses from such a ban. Antwerp's diamond industry has an annual turnover of 47 billion euros, 40% of which are from the trade in Russian diamonds. The European Union has repeatedly pointed out that in order to introduce any restrictions on the trade in Russian diamonds, it is necessary to enlist the support of all international partners, in particular India as a key player in this area. Brussels has also stressed the importance of first ensuring the traceability of Russian diamonds on world markets.

The G7 is expected to announce the ban in late September or October. The European Union intends to adopt sanctions against the Russian diamond industry in October-November. According to the authors of the restrictions, the ban on imports of rough Russian diamonds will come into force on 1 January 2024. The ban on processed stones is expected to take effect at a later date and will be phased in gradually.
Earlier, the newspaper quoted a Belgian diplomat as saying that Belgium was leading the development of a plan for Western sanctions on Russian diamonds, which the G7 and then the European Union are expected to announce in the coming weeks. The European Commission and the United States are also involved. The sanctions could come into force as early as 1 January 2024.