Belgium's trade with Russian diamonds continues despite the moral dilemma, BTA reported.

This shows an extensive investigation by the British newspaper "Guardian".

Poland and the Baltic states are demanding an end to trade.

Although Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has issued warnings to Belgium about the trade in Russian diamonds since the start of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, the gems are still being traded.

The Antwerp World Diamond Center (WDCA) does not want to end trade with Russia, as it says it would lead to the loss of 10,000 jobs.

In addition, Russian diamonds are needed for products in the field of optics.

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About 25% of all rough diamonds passing through Antwerp come from Russia, led by the Russian state-owned diamond company Alrosa.

The head of the company, Sergey Sergeevich Ivanov, was one of the first oligarchs to be sanctioned abroad.

Calls for an end to the diamond trade grew louder when it emerged that Alrosa was financing the repair of a submarine for the Russian military.

However, it seems Antwerp's diamond dealers are unwilling to comply.

In 2021, Belgium imported diamonds from Russia worth €1.8 billion.

In August this year, trade already amounted to 1.2 billion euros.

However, there has been a remarkable decline since June.

A spokesman for the Belgian Prime Minister, Alexandre De Croix, mentioned the sharp drop in response to the Guardian.

"The possibility of a further complete cessation of this trade is currently being clarified, but this must be done through collective action," the spokesman said.

"If we are serious about stopping the flow of money to Russia, it can only be done if we also stop the buying and selling of polished diamonds, not just the trade in rough diamonds," he added.

Poland and the Baltic states are demanding a complete freeze on diamond trade with Russia.

They want diamonds to be included in the next package of sanctions.

Belgium says it has no objections to including the diamond trade in the sanctions package.

But so far, whenever Alrosa's name has been included in the draft list of sanctions, it has subsequently disappeared from the final version of the document.

It is still unclear how exactly this happened.

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