The EU's eighth package of sanctions against Russia includes more precious metals, but not diamonds, a key industry for Belgium.

Yesterday, the European Commission presented the latest proposal for new restrictions on Russia. Among them, limiting the price of Russian oil that is exported to third countries that do not have sanctions against Moscow, but also a series of materials, substances and products, in order to reduce the Kremlin's income.

But despite numerous calls to include diamonds in the list of sanctions, it did not happen this time either.

The diamond industry is very important to Belgium. Although Belgium does not officially declare against sanctions in this area, the media and experts claim that there is a strong lobby that puts pressure on EU institutions and countries not to include diamonds in the sanctions.

Numerous other luxury goods such as gold and others have been sanctioned, but Russian diamonds are still arriving on the European market.

Diamonds account for 30 percent of Russia's global trade, according to US official statistics, and are in the top ten exports when energy is excluded. In 2021, this trade amounted to over 4,5 billion euros for Moscow.