Gov’t, De Beers team up to battle G7 plan

The Group of Seven (G7), which comprises the United States, the United Kingdom, the European Union and other industrialised states, has proposed tough new rules to stop Russian stones from entering the global diamond industry. Russia is the world’s largest producer of rough diamonds by volume and while the United States long imposed sanctions due to the invasion of Ukraine, Moscow’s diamonds continue to freely trade in the market and into the US.

The loophole, according to Belgian research firm, IPIS, is that Russian diamonds are cut and polished in India, whose firms handle 90% of the global diamond supply.