Despite the war in Ukraine and months of discussions about a possible boycott, Russian diamonds are still heavily traded this year in Antwerp, the capital of the diamond world. In January, the Belgian city received 132 million euros worth of Russian diamonds.
That is even more than in January 2022, before the outbreak of war in Ukraine. At that time, 97 million euros worth of Russian diamonds were imported. This increase is distorted by a higher diamond price. In terms of weight, imports are back at pre-war levels.
Four out of five rough diamonds in the world pass through the Antwerp diamond district. In the year before the war, Russian diamonds worth 1.8 billion euros were imported into Belgium.
Since the war, a possible EU boycott of Russian diamonds has been regularly discussed. The fear is that Russia can increase its war chest by selling diamonds.
Nevertheless, new sanctions packages have recently been agreed for, for example, synthetic rubber, which is used in car tires, but not for diamonds.
Belgium also wants to trace polished diamonds
The Belgian government would rather not have a boycott because it fears that the diamonds will otherwise reach Western consumers in a different way.
That is why Prime Minister Alexander De Croo wants to impose strict rules for Russian diamonds via the G7. In addition to the EU countries Germany, France and Italy, the G7 consists of the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and Japan.
The plan is to ensure that Russian diamonds can be traced more effectively. For example, a trade boycott for diamonds cannot be circumvented by polishing rough diamonds in other countries.
