China News Service, November 23. Since the Ukraine crisis, the European Union has approved eight rounds of sanctions against Russia, embargoing Russian coal and stopping the purchase of a large number of Russian goods, including gold, caviar and vodka.

However, the British "Guardian" recently noticed that there is a kind of transaction that has escaped the sanctions list again and again-diamond trade.

Screenshot of the British "Guardian" report.

  Belgium has reportedly continued to import diamonds from Russia despite the Ukraine crisis disrupting billions of dollars in trade and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy reportedly pressuring the EU, telling the Belgian parliament that peace is "worth more than any diamond" , but the number did decrease.

  According to statistics from the National Bank of Belgium, in the first eight months of 2022, Belgium has imported 1.2 billion euros of Russian diamonds.

The report also stated that the related trade in 2022 is like a "roller coaster ride". In June, there was a sharp rise to 393.8 million euros, and then a rapid decline.

  The company that is still conducting transactions with EU countries is Russia's Alrosa (Alrosa).

The Russian Republic of Yakutia, in the vast Siberian region, is home to most of the company's mines.

ALROSA CEO Sergeyevich was one of the first oligarchs to be sanctioned by the United States following the Ukraine crisis.

His father, former Russian Defense Minister Borisovich, was also sanctioned by the United States.

  In this regard, "Antwerp World Diamond Center" (AWDC) spokesperson Tom Neys said that since the beginning of the Ukraine crisis, the diamond industry has fallen into uncertainty, and millions of transactions are pending.

He also noted that big companies can find substitutes for Russian diamonds, "but for small traders it's very difficult ... If they have no other options, they will be squeezed and unable to survive."

  Belgian Prime Minister De Croo is said to have said that the country "never blocked (sanctions) measures related to the diamond industry." Belgian officials also insisted that is still the case.

But Belgium abstained when Alrosa was included in the previous round of sanctions, a source said.

  Now, Poland and the Baltic states are under renewed pressure to include diamonds in the ninth round of EU sanctions.

Meanwhile, the US has banned the import of non-industrial diamonds from Russia, and the UK has imposed sanctions on ALROSA.

  However, the Russian satellite network has previously noticed that although ALROSA is included in the sanctions list of the European Union, the United States and the United Kingdom, its main sales channels have not been affected by the restrictive measures.

While the United States officially bans direct imports of Russian diamonds, it is said not to ban diamonds processed in other countries.