EU imposes sanctions on Russia’s largest diamond mining group and its CEO
A specialist works with rough diamonds at the ALROSA Diamond Sorting Center (DSC) in Mirny, Sakha (Yakutiya) Republic, Russia, 19 June 2019. The Russian diamond mining company ALROSA operates 12 kimberlite pipes and 16 alluvial deposits in the country’s Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) and Arkhangelsk region and employs some 37,000 people at its facilities. EPA-EFE/SERGEI ILNITSKY
The European Union has imposed sanctions on Russia’s largest diamond mining group, Alrosa, and its CEO Pavel Marinychev, according to a press release issued by the European Council on Wednesday.
Intended to supplement the EU ban on Russian diamond imports imposed as part of a 12th package of European sanctions on Russia last month, the ban on Russian diamonds was “part of a G7 effort to develop an internationally coordinated diamond ban that aims at depriving Russia of this important revenue source,” the European Council release said.
State-owned Alrosa is the world’s largest diamond producer and its mines in Yakutia and the Arkhangelsk region account for over 90% of Russia’s diamond production.
The 12th package of sanctions against Russia, approved by the EU on 18 December, included a ban on the import of non-industrial Russian diamonds from 1 January 2024, as well as restrictions on the sale of Russian iron and steel and strict measures to comply with the oil price cap.