Sunday

28th May 2023

Putin's diamond firm off the hook in EU sanctions

  • Russian president Vladimir Putin at a diamond industry conference in December 2014 - shortly after his first invasion of Ukraine (Photo: kremlin.ru)
Listen to article

The EU is giving Russia carte blanche to keep selling diamonds to Antwerp and the rest of Europe, despite grave escalation in Ukraine.

It had been planning to blacklist Russian diamond-mining giant Alrosa under original EU Commission proposals seen by EUobserver.

Read and decide

Join EUobserver today

Become an expert on Europe

Get instant access to all articles — and 20 years of archives. 14-day free trial.

... or subscribe as a group

  • Diamond firm Alrosa sponsors sporting events and military submarines (Photo: alrosa.ru)

Alrosa had directly financed a new Russian naval submarine as well as feeding billions of euros a year into the Kremlin's war chest, the EU had said.

Russian president Vladimir Putin had also boasted that the majority-state owned firm gave him "serious" revenues.

But its name was cut over the weekend from a list of 29 individuals and seven entities to face an EU ban and asset-freeze, EU documents dated Monday (3 October) showed, as diplomats narrowed in on a deal.

And Alrosa stayed out of the final agreement on a new sanctions package nailed down in Brussels on Wednesday morning, diplomats said.

The Belgian foreign ministry declined to comment on the Alrosa U-turn, but it comes after Belgian diplomats and Antwerp Diamond Centre lobbyists had warned that striking at Russia's diamond exports would cost thousands of jobs in the city, which hosts the world's biggest diamond exchange.

The change of heart marks a defeat for the Baltic states, Ireland, and Poland, which had first endorsed a total diamond ban, then a non-industrial diamond ban, then the Alrosa listing, before backing down.

The new sanctions are to enter into force on Thursday.

They blacklist Russian ideologue Alexander Dugin, impose a price cap on Russian oil exports, and strike at Russia's steel and forestry industries in trade measures worth up to €7bn.

They come after Putin annexed four parts of eastern Ukraine and threatened to use nuclear weapons against anyone who attacked them — his most serious escalation since the invasion in February.

EU foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell and EU Commission president Ursula von der Leyen told MEPs in Brussels on Wednesday the sanctions would help stop the war in the end.

"History books" would show "a united Europe helped resist aggression by a radically different political organisation [Putin's Russia] to our own," Borrell said.

For his part, Ukrainian president Volodomyr Zelensky personally called for Belgium to ban Russian diamonds from Antwerp when the war first broke out.

But the EU's diamond U-turn is not the only time member states opted to protect jobs at home, instead of hitting harder at Russia's war economy and prestige symbols.

Malta secured a longer phase-out period on the Russia oil price-cap in the latest deal, sources said. Belgium and Italy got derogations on imports of some Russian steel products for up to two years.

Hungary also got an exemption from an EU phase-out of Russian oil imports earlier this year.

Opinion

Time to put Antwerp's Russian diamonds on EU sanctions list

The Antwerp diamond industry has managed to evade sanctions for nine European sanctions packages. They remain convinced that voluntary measures will suffice to eventually reduce the trade in Russian blood diamonds to zero. That's incomprehensible.

EU wants to see US list on Russia financing of politicians

An US intelligence review says Russia gave at least $300m [€305m] to political parties, officials and politicians in more than two dozen countries since 2014. The EU wants to see who pocketed the funds in Europe.

Opinion

How the EU's money for waste went to waste in Lebanon

The EU led support for the waste management crisis in Lebanon, spending around €89m between 2004-2017, with at least €30m spent on 16 solid-waste management facilities. However, it failed to deliver.

Latest News

  1. How the EU's money for waste went to waste in Lebanon
  2. EU criminal complicity in Libya needs recognition, says expert
  3. Europe's missing mails
  4. MEPs to urge block on Hungary taking EU presidency in 2024
  5. PFAS 'forever chemicals' cost society €16 trillion a year
  6. EU will 'react as appropriate' to Russian nukes in Belarus
  7. The EU needs to foster tech — not just regulate it
  8. EU: national energy price-spike measures should end this year

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. International Sustainable Finance CentreJoin CEE Sustainable Finance Summit, 15 – 19 May 2023, high-level event for finance & business
  2. ICLEISeven actionable measures to make food procurement in Europe more sustainable
  3. World BankWorld Bank Report Highlights Role of Human Development for a Successful Green Transition in Europe
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersNordic summit to step up the fight against food loss and waste
  5. Nordic Council of MinistersThink-tank: Strengthen co-operation around tech giants’ influence in the Nordics
  6. EFBWWEFBWW calls for the EC to stop exploitation in subcontracting chains

Join EUobserver

Support quality EU news

Join us