.RUSSIA'S DIAMOND sector is under the gun. On January 1st the G7, a group of wealthy countries, as well as the European Alliance banned imports of rugged gemstones extracted in Russia-- a third of the total extracted worldwide in 2022. On January 3rd the EU incorporated Russia's state exploration business, and also its own president, to its decrees listing. This is the initial phase of a complete sanctions program: in March the G7 and also EU will disallow Russian gems that have actually been actually reduced and polished abroad. In September they will certainly introduce a license system to verify where gemstones were actually mined. These steps amount to the most significant improvement to business in years. Why has it taken such a long time to establish decrees on Russia's diamond business-- as well as what impact will they have?