The Financial Times said that the West’s actions directed against Russian diamonds may threaten hundreds of thousands of jobs in India, because Russian diamonds provide about 60% of job opportunities in this sector there.
The newspaper added: “For India, banning the circulation of Russian diamonds threatens to lose hundreds of thousands of jobs.”
The newspaper quoted Anup Mehta, chairman of the Bharat Diamond Exchange in Mumbai, as saying that a total of one million people work in the diamond trade in India.
Currently, India is free to export rough gemstones from Russia to the US and other G7 countries if they go through major changes in the Indian cut diamond industry and if they are polished there.
But earlier it was reported that in May representatives of the Group of Seven major countries are expected to undertake action on the sale of Russian diamonds in their countries. According to Belgian Prime Minister Alexandre de Croo, these measures are aimed at preventing the re-export of Russian diamonds through third countries to avoid sanctions.
This article was originally published by RT.
