As Blickpunkt Juwelier reports, newly published statistics from the Kimberley Process reveal that the sanctions imposed on Russian diamonds are not having as much effect as hoped. According to the statistics, Russia did export 25% fewer rough diamonds in 2022 than in the previous year, but the reason for this was apparently not the sanctions, but the general drop in demand. Other large diamond exporters, such as the United Arab Emirates, also recorded significantly lower export volumes than in the previous year.
Moreover, the decrease in value of exports for Russia is only 1.59%, because due to the high demand at the end of 2021 the prices for rough diamonds had risen sharply. As a result, other countries were even able to increase their diamond export revenues, although the amount of exported rough diamonds had decreased.
The statistics of the Kimberley Process thus illustrate that sanctioning Russian diamonds has so far not made the hoped-for dent in Putin's war funding. As we have previously reported, the Russian company Alrosa, one of the largest diamond producers in the world, is largely state-owned. Thus, it is reasonable to assume that revenues from trade in Russian diamonds are helping to finance the war of aggression against Ukraine. We therefore hope that the insights that can be drawn from the statistics will encourage a re-evaluation of the sanctions and that a way will be found to enforce the measures more effectively.
Source: Article "Russische Rohdiamanten: Sanktionen zeigen wenig Wirkung" in Blickpunkt Juwelier from 2 August 2023
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