WASHINGTON, August 27. /TASS/. The United States has permitted imports of certain categories of Russian diamonds until September 1, 2026, according to a license published by the US Department of the Treasury.
According to the license, diamonds of Russian origin weighing 1 carat or more are permitted for import "provided that the diamonds were physically located outside of the Russian Federation before, and were not exported or re-exported from the Russian Federation since March 1, 2024."
The license also permits the import of diamonds weighing 0.5 carats or more if they "were located outside the Russian Federation and were not exported or re-exported from Russia" since September 1, 2024.
In December 2023, the G7 countries announced the introduction of restrictions on the import of diamonds mined or processed in Russia from January 1, 2024.
From March 1, the restrictions also came into force for Russian diamonds that were processed in other countries. In a joint statement, the G7 leaders agreed to create a "robust mechanism" for the verification and certification of rough diamonds within the G7 by September 1, 2024.
In February 2024, the US authorities announced that they would ban the import of unsorted diamonds and diamond jewelry from Russia from March 1, 2024. The US also banned the import of non-industrial diamonds from Russia weighing 1 carat or more from March 1, and weighing 0.5 carats or more from September 1, 2024 regardless of whether they were processed in third countries. In August of 2024, the US authorities allowed the import of certain categories of Russian diamonds until September 1, 2025. In particular, the import of Russian diamonds was permitted if they "were outside the Russian Federation and were not exported or re-exported from the Russian Federation" after a certain period. In the case of diamonds weighing 1 carat or more, this is March 1, 2024, and for diamonds weighing more than 0.5 carats, September 1, 2024.