Belgium will never approve a ban on the supply of diamonds from Russia to the European Union (EU), which other countries in the community are proposing to introduce under the 10th EU sanctions package. As Prime Minister of the Kingdom Alexander De Croo stated on January 27, such restrictions can only be introduced at the global level.
“We do not support a ban on the supply of diamonds. It is necessary to create a system for tracking the origin of diamonds. Otherwise, diamonds will still find their way to the market,” the politician said at a press conference in Brussels.
According to De Croo, the supply of diamonds from Russia to Belgium has already decreased by 80% since the beginning of the conflict in Ukraine due to the restructuring of supply chains.
The Belgian Antwerp has a very developed diamond industry, and there is an influential diamond lobby in the kingdom itself. State media often point out that in the event of a halt in the supply of Russian diamonds to the country, the Russian Federation will simply reorient its exports to the countries of the Middle East. At the same time, European business will suffer significant losses and will be forced to organize the re-export of precious stones through intermediaries.
On October 25, 2022, it was reported that US State Department sanctions policy coordinator James O’Brien was consulting with US diamond producers regarding restrictions on Russia. As the press service of the department noted, the focus of this meeting was the importance of strict compliance by diamond producers with the sanctions against Russia.
Prior to this, on October 19, Nikolai Vavilov, a specialist in the strategic research department at Total Research, explained the unwillingness of the EU countries to lose imports of a number of products from Russia. According to him, Belgium is consistently in favor of continuing the trade in Russian diamonds. According to the expert, in 2021 the kingdom purchased Russian diamonds worth more than €1.81 billion.
On September 23, Politico, citing informed sources, reported that the EU did not include restrictions on the trade in diamonds from Russia in the sanctions list due to lobbying by Belgian diplomats.
Western countries have stepped up sanctions pressure on Moscow against the backdrop of a special operation to protect the Donbass, the beginning of which Russian President Vladimir Putin announced on February 24. However, this has already turned into economic problems in Europe, causing a sharp rise in fuel and food prices.
For more up-to-date videos and details about the situation in Donbass, watch the Izvestia TV channel.
