Russia is preparing in advance for G7 sanctions against its diamonds, seeking new alternative export markets and trying to break the monopoly of the international diamond standard set by the Gemological Institute of America (GIA), according to top Russian officials.
“We... are not sitting still and are preparing new alternative markets for ourselves where it [diamond rough] will be supplied. And, of course, I'm considering the timing of adoption of every specific package [of measures]: by that time we will try to prepare for an alternative,” said Deputy Prime Minister and Head of the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation Denis Manturov to RIA Novosti.
According to him, restrictions proposed by the G7 group create “additional challenges in order to determine alternative supply markets.”
Meanwhile, the head of the Ministry of Eastern Development Alexei Chekunkov told RIA Novosti that the Russian Federation intends to break the monopoly of the international diamond standard set by the GIA via intensifying interaction with countries that share the values of the sovereignty of the Russian Federation.
“Attempts to limit sales of Russian diamonds are a common competitive struggle disguised as a geopolitical statement. Suffice to say that the only international standard so far by which the value and cost of each stone is determined belongs to the GIA,” he said. “We are going to break these monopolies.”
Theodor Lisovoy, Editor in Chief of the European bureau, Rough&Polished
