Figures released by the government-run Belgian Foreign Trade Agency (BFTA) and quoted by IDEX Online show that Belgium’s imports of Russian diamonds rose 36% year-on-year to $141 million in January.
Although the US has imposed sanctions on Russian diamonds since its invasion of Ukraine last year, the 27 EU nations have not, “and Belgium has repeatedly warned that they would harm its own economy far more than Russia’s,” according to the report.
And, although diamond imports rose, imports of gold and other precious metals fell23%, “mainly as a result of a global slowdown in jewelry demand.”
