The EU will push ahead with a long-stalled ban on Russian diamonds next week after securing enough support from the G7 group of industrialised nations, the bloc’s foreign policy chief has said.
Diamonds are one of the few major Russian exports still untouched by EU sanctions imposed in response to President Vladimir Putin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine last year, due to extensive wrangling over how an embargo would work effectively.
Josep Borrell, the EU’s chief diplomat, told the Financial Times that a two-day meeting of G7 foreign ministers in Japan that ended on Wednesday had backed the move, overcoming a key hurdle demanded by European countries including Belgium – one of the world’s biggest diamond traders.
“In order for [EU] member states to be unanimous on the diamond trade ban, some were asking for the G7 to provide, let’s say, political cover,” Borrell said.
“Well, this has been done and the coordination has worked and we will be able to present the sanctions package to [foreign ministers on Monday],” he added.
Ukraine and several Central and Eastern European allies have long demanded that the EU ban trade in the precious stone, in addition to wider measures banning or reducing Russian exports such as oil, coal, steel and gold.
G7 leaders agreed in May to restrict the trade and use of Russian diamonds, including through the use of tracing technologies. But efforts to impose legal EU measures stalled as Belgium argued that a simple ban on Russian stones would only divert trade away from its city of Antwerp, the world’s diamond hub.
Belgian officials had called for full G7 support for a deal that would introduce a global standard for certifying rough and polished diamonds, allowing all traders to identify Russian-produced gems.
Borrell said the foreign ministers of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK and the US agreed this week to “reduce the revenues that Russia derives from exports” and specifically mentioned “non-industrial diamonds, including mined diamonds”.
Russia is the world’s largest producer of rough diamonds by volume, with exports worth $4 billion in 2021, according to trade statistics. More than 80 percent of the world’s rough diamonds are traded through traders in Antwerp.
The global natural diamond jewellery market is estimated to be worth $74 billion in 2023, according to independent analyst Paul Zimnisky.
The EU diamond sanctions are part of the bloc’s 12 rounds of sanctions against Moscow. Officials have said the new sanctions package will also include new import and export bans, measures to tighten the effectiveness of the existing price cap on Russian crude oil, and targeting entities in third countries that help Russia evade trade restrictions.
