.RUSSIA'S gemstone market is under pressure. On January 1st the G7, a group of rich nations, and the European Alliance banned imports of tough diamonds mined in Russia-- a 3rd of the complete removed worldwide in 2022. On January 3rd the EU included Russia's state exploration company, as well as its own president, to its sanctions checklist. This is the 1st stage of a detailed sanctions scheme: in March the G7 and EU will ban Russian treasures that have actually been reduced as well as fine-tuned abroad. In September they will certainly launch a license system to confirm where diamonds were actually extracted. These actions amount to the largest change to the business in many years. Why has it taken as long to enforce injunctions on Russia's diamond sector-- and what influence will they have?