Editor’s Note
This article examines Belgium’s continued import of Russian diamonds, a multi-billion euro trade that has become a contentious political issue since the invasion of Ukraine. Despite international pressure, the flow of these gems persists, posing a significant dilemma for the European nation.
Russia is the world’s largest diamond exporter, shipping billions of euros worth of gemstones annually. Until shortly before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, most of these diamonds went to the United Arab Emirates – and to Belgium. Since the start of the Russian war of aggression, this has become a highly sensitive political and economic issue for Belgium. Both Ukraine and various European countries have repeatedly called on Belgium to stop this diamond trade. To no avail: diamonds are still exempt from European sanctions.
The Flemish socialists have long been pushing for a boycott of Russian diamonds. Primarily due to US sanctions, imports of Russian diamonds to Antwerp have fallen sharply – the United States is the world’s largest sales market. However, because prices have risen so much, the value of imports has remained high: in Antwerp alone, Russian diamonds worth 132 million euros still arrive every month.
Now, however, movement seems to be happening on another level: the G7 states agreed over the weekend on a framework for an import ban on Russian diamonds. The initiative for this even came from Belgium, according to Prime Minister Alexander De Croo. Together, the G7 countries (Germany, France, Italy, Japan, Canada, the United States, and the United Kingdom) account for about 70 percent of the world diamond market. This puts the G7 in a position to build the necessary pressure to force diamond-exporting countries to comply with this boycott framework.
However, the G7 agreement is not legally binding: the details still need to be worked out and cast into European and national law, and Russian diamonds must also be formally added to the sanctions list.
Beyond the legal drafting and anchoring, another point is crucial: traceability. Since the start of the war, Russia has been systematically obscuring the origin of its diamonds, as reported by the weekly magazine “Knack.” According to the report, rough diamonds are first sent to India, for example. There they are cut and polished. Afterwards, they are declared as “Indian diamonds” and traded further, including via Dubai.
An argument that Prime Minister De Croo and Foreign Minister Lahbib had also used to reject unilateral Belgian action. With the G7 framework, such unfair competition will hopefully be stopped. Because with real traceability and certificates of origin, Russian diamonds could no longer simply be re-declared as diamonds from India or Dubai – or as “origin unknown” or “mixed origin,” as is said to often appear on delivery notes for Antwerp since the war began. As insiders assure “Knack,” this is also a trick to disguise the origin.
This is why Russia is already trying to hide the origin of its diamonds. In fact, experts could already tell from characteristics like color which mine a diamond really comes from.
Boris Schmidt