The EU has dealt another blow to the Russian diamond business: the sanctions list has been updated

Alrosa and its head Pavel Marinichev have been sanctioned by the European Union: the world’s largest diamond miner brings billions of dollars in revenue to the budget of the aggressor country.

The European Union has supplemented the 12th package of sanctions against the Russian Federation and introduced
Alrosa, the world’s largest diamond mining company, and its CEO Pavel Marinichev.

This was reported on the website of the EU Council.

The share of the state-owned company Alrosa accounts for 90%
of Russian diamond production, and, according to data for 2022, its net profit amounted
to more than 82 billion rubles. The money that Russia receives from the export
of precious stones goes to finance the Russian army during its war in
Ukraine, the EU noted earlier.

Marinychev was included in the US sanctions list in July
2023, and Alrosa fell under US sanctions in the spring of 2022.

The European Union has agreed on the 12th package of economic restrictions against
The Russian Federation on December 18, and the addition of the sanctions list and the inclusion of Alrosa and
its head in it became known today, January 3. It is expected that the budget of the aggressor country
after the imposition of sanctions against the diamond industry will receive less than 2
billion euros per year. The restrictions will come into force gradually: from March 1
to September 1, the ban will expand from the direct export of Russian diamonds to the EU to their
purchase through third countries.

The embargo affects natural and artificial diamonds, as
well as diamond products. This is part of the G7’s joint efforts to deprive the aggressor of the revenues used in the war with Ukraine.

Recall that the EU leaders agreed on the 12th package of sanctions against the Russian Federation: the embargo applies to diamonds, chemicals, military and IT technologies.

Putin’s spokesman Peskov assured that the Russian authorities have options to circumvent the restrictive measures imposed against the diamonds of the aggressor country.