US imposes sanctions on russian diamond trade

The U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has decided to ban the import of certain categories of diamonds from russia.

In total, OFAC issued two decisions on February 8. The first of them prohibits the import of non-commercial diamonds mined in russia, regardless of whether they have been processed in a third country. The ban will come into effect on March 1, 2024 and will initially apply to non-core diamonds weighing 1.0 carats or more, and from September 1, 2024 - to non-core diamonds of 0.5 carats or more.

In addition, OFAC has decided to ban, effective March 1, 2024, the import of diamond jewelry and unsorted diamonds originating in or exported from russia.

These decisions were made in fulfillment of the G7 commitments of December 2023 to introduce phased restrictions on imports of diamonds mined in russia.

Source: U.S. Department of the Treasury