“Antwerp is the diamond capital of the world. Around 85 percent of the world’s rough diamonds, half of polished diamonds and 40 percent of industrial diamonds pass through Antwerp.
Almost **a third of the diamonds for trade in Antwerp come from Russia**. Rough diamonds remain an important source of income for the Russian war apparatus. Every year **Russia is raking in approximately $4bn [€3.7bn] in revenues through the export of rough diamonds.**
Alrosa, a company which accounts for the majority of Russian diamond mining, has close ties to the Kremlin. Its CEO, Sergei Ivanov, is the son of one of Putin’s closest allies.
**And yet the diamond industry has managed to evade sanctions for nine European sanctions packages.**
The preparatory talks on the tenth European package of sanctions will start shortly.
It is unacceptable that Belgium, through the trade in a luxury product, continues to finance the ongoing bombing of Ukrainian civilians and infrastructure.
It is time that Russian diamonds, Alrosa and its CEO are added to the European list of sanctions.”
How about the other Dutch companies still operating in Russia, like ING and Philips?
Follow the money, who is benefiting ? You can be confident the same people who are in power or powerful influence.
That will make 10k people in Antwerp unemployed and permanently transfer the diamond business to India, and they won’t put a limit on the amount of diamonds allowed to come in from Russia, unlike Belgium. Not everything is about Ukraine/Russia, other countries have to look out for their own people as well, especially when times are already hard. Downvote to your heart’s content.
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“Antwerp is the diamond capital of the world. Around 85 percent of the world’s rough diamonds, half of polished diamonds and 40 percent of industrial diamonds pass through Antwerp.
Almost **a third of the diamonds for trade in Antwerp come from Russia**. Rough diamonds remain an important source of income for the Russian war apparatus. Every year **Russia is raking in approximately $4bn [€3.7bn] in revenues through the export of rough diamonds.**
Alrosa, a company which accounts for the majority of Russian diamond mining, has close ties to the Kremlin. Its CEO, Sergei Ivanov, is the son of one of Putin’s closest allies.
**And yet the diamond industry has managed to evade sanctions for nine European sanctions packages.**
The preparatory talks on the tenth European package of sanctions will start shortly.
It is unacceptable that Belgium, through the trade in a luxury product, continues to finance the ongoing bombing of Ukrainian civilians and infrastructure.
It is time that Russian diamonds, Alrosa and its CEO are added to the European list of sanctions.”
How about the other Dutch companies still operating in Russia, like ING and Philips?
Follow the money, who is benefiting ? You can be confident the same people who are in power or powerful influence.
That will make 10k people in Antwerp unemployed and permanently transfer the diamond business to India, and they won’t put a limit on the amount of diamonds allowed to come in from Russia, unlike Belgium. Not everything is about Ukraine/Russia, other countries have to look out for their own people as well, especially when times are already hard. Downvote to your heart’s content.