On Wednesday, the European Union (EU) announced sanctions against Alrosa, Russia’s state-owned diamond corporation, and its CEO, as a part of its embargo on Russian diamond imports due to the ongoing conflict in Ukraine.
In December, the EU resolved to ban the import of diamonds from Russia, aiming to further deplete the financial resources of the Kremlin.
The EU has included Alrosa, the world’s leading diamond mining company, and its CEO Pavel Marinychev in its sanctions list. This list enforces a travel ban and freezes assets within the EU.
The EU’s decision is based on Alrosa’s significant role in the Russian economy, as the company is responsible for 90% of Russia’s diamond output, which amounted to approximately $4 billion in exports in 2022.
The prohibition, which affects both natural and synthetic diamonds from Russia, came into effect on January 1. Additionally, the EU plans to gradually implement a ban on Russian diamonds that are processed in third-party countries by September.
This measure follows extensive negotiations with G7 nations to establish a system for tracing Russian diamonds, a critical step in making the embargo effective. Belgium, the host of the world’s largest diamond trading center, was a key advocate for this system.
These sanctions mark the EU’s twelfth set of punitive measures against Moscow since Russian President Vladimir Putin commenced the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
