The EU has added Russian mining large Alrosa and its CEO to an ever-growing blacklist over the struggle in Ukraine.
”Alrosa is the biggest diamond-mining firm on the planet. The diamond business is strategically vital for the financial system of the Russian Federation, as it’s the prime non-energy export of the nation,” the EU sanctions discover, revealed on Wednesday (3 December) mentioned.
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”Alrosa accounts for over 90 p.c of all Russian diamond manufacturing. Alrosa additionally has a long-standing partnership with the Russian Armed Forces, because it has sponsored a submarine of the Russian Navy since 1997,” it added.
The EU imposed an asset freeze and visa-ban on the agency’s CEO, 46-year outdated Pavel Marinychev, on the identical day.
It described him as ”a businessperson concerned in an financial sector offering a considerable income to the federal government of the Russian Federation, which is answerable for the annexation of Crimea and the destabilisation of Ukraine”.
The Alrosa ban comes after the EU imposed a blanket import embargo on Russian diamonds as a part of its twelfth spherical of Russia sanctions in late December.
And the time-lag was due for technical causes, diplomats mentioned.
”Particular person listings are efficient instantly upon publication, whereas the import ban on Russian diamonds was solely efficient beginning on 1 January 2024. To keep away from confusion on the beginning of the import ban, it was determined to attend till a couple of days after the entry into drive of the ban to sanction Alrosa and its CEO,” an EU diplomat mentioned.
Alrosa has over 50 subsidiaries, together with in Antwerp (Belgium), Naples (Italy), and Luxembourg.
Some 20 different main Russian corporations deal with diamond chopping, processing, buying and selling, and tools provides.