The US has banned , a Russian national and the world’s largest producer, but the framework created for its sale makes control difficult. In recent years, the Russian company has expanded its activity in Africa, such as Angola. In addition, the Central African Republic asked Putin for help in 2017 to regain control of the mines held by militias.
If it has crossed your mind to boycott Russia for the , be sure to read Dostoyevsky. Better avoid buying diamonds. Russia was the world’s largest diamond producer in 2021, with 32% of the total (116 million carats), according to data estimated by the American consultancy Bain & Company. The next largest exporting countries were Botswana (19%), Canada (15%), the Democratic Republic of the Congo (12%), South Africa (8%) and Angola (7%).
Alrosa is the largest producer by volume of this crystalline mineral, although its competitor De Beers -now owned by Anglo American- is the largest in terms of revenue, according to Reuters.
Alrosa’s main shareholders are the Russian Federation, which owns a 43.9% stake, and the Republic of Sakha-Yakutia (25%). Its mines are, above all, in this Siberian republic and in the Oblast of Archangel (Arkhangelsk? in Russian).
The continued exploration of Siberia in search of these luxury stones dates back to the 1930s, although the first rough diamond was found in 1949. According to the Russian company, in 1957 the state monopoly of Yakutalmaz was created in Mirny, a Siberian town in which a kimberlite mine had been discovered: a type of volcanic igneous rock, known to sometimes contain diamonds. That same year, it produced the first industrial diamonds, and shortly thereafter the company began supplying them abroad under a contract with De Beers Corporation.
In 1992, after the dismemberment of the USSR, a presidential decree created the company Almazy Rossii-Sakha (Alrosa), which later went public and is listed in Moscow. However, the historic cooperation with De Beers, whose headquarters are registered in Luxembourg, has come to an end. The European Commission announced in 2006 that it was ending De Beers’ monopoly by prohibiting it from buying diamonds from Alrosa for distribution around the world. As the then European Commissioner Neelie Kroes stressed, “for the first time in the history of the diamond market there is an opportunity for genuine competition.” Since then, the Russian firm has distributed its production independently on the market.
In early March, the United States sanctioned Alrosa and Sergei Ivanov
When Russian tanks invaded the Ukraine at the end of February, panic broke out in Antwerp. “In 2020, more than one billion euros in Russian diamonds passed through the Belgian port. Just two months ago, the Antwerp World Diamond Center announced the renewal of its agreement with Alrosa,” published The Brussels Times. According to this newspaper, 86% of rough diamonds pass through Belgium.
In early March, the US sanctioned Alrosa and Sergei Ivanov (its CEO), but only went so far as to ban debt and equity transactions, allowing the companies to continue buying and selling Russian diamonds. So Biden went a step further and on March 11 he vetoed the importation of these precious stones.
In early March, the US sanctioned Alrosa and Sergei Ivanov (its CEO), but only went so far as to ban debt and equity transactions, allowing the companies to continue buying and selling Russian diamonds. So Biden went a step further and on March 11 he vetoed the importation of these precious stones.
“Jewelry sector accused of keeping silent on Russian diamonds,” headlined The Guardian on March 19. “Experts say that the current sanctions do not prevent the flow of Russian gems to the West because most are exported rough and reclassified in India,” the British newspaper reported.
In fact, the Indian newspaper The Economic Times reported the following on March 17: “Rough diamonds from the Russian diamond mining company Alrosa, partly state-owned, have started arriving in India after a pause and exporters of Diamonds are making payments in euros through German banks to avoid problems related to the sanctions imposed on Russia since its invasion of Ukraine.”
In recent days, Signet – the world’s largest diamond jewelry retailer – announced that it had halted all trade in precious metals and diamonds from sanctioned Russian sources.
Silent presence in Africa
Blood diamonds are rough diamonds used by rebel movements or their allies to finance armed conflicts aimed at undermining legitimate governments, as defined by the website of , the certificate that guarantees the clean origin of these precious stones. In many cases, slaves or people in semi-slavery are used to extract diamonds, as recounted in the famous 2006 film starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Connelly and Djimon Hounsou.
Russia has in recent years reestablished ties with Angola, where Alrosa extracts diamonds from local mines at Catoca and Luaxe. In addition, in the Central African Republic, “where the diamond industry is mired in civil strife and government greed,” Russia has offered weapons and instructors to train the country’s soldiers in exchange for mining rights to minerals such as diamonds. , as researcher Theo Neethling wrote in an article published on the Italian ISPI website in 2019.
“The illegal diamond trade still flourishes”
“Russian agents have even teamed up with murderous rebels to obtain diamonds in areas where trade is prohibited, profiting from the very lawlessness they have been brought in for, according to members of the Central African government, Western officials and some of their own. warlords,” journalist Dionne Searcey also wrote in 2019 in The New York Times. These Russian agents she was referring to are members of the Wagner Group, a mercenary army that some link to the Kremlin.
Searcey tells how in 2017 the president of the Central African Republic asked Putin for help to recover the mines that were under the control of armed traffickers so that he could sell the diamonds legally and rebuild the country. Instead, despite the promises of the Central African government, “the illegal trade in diamonds still flourishes,” the journalist observed.
The Russians are not the only ones trading weapons for access to African diamonds, but they have strengthened their presence on the continent, including mining in the Democratic Republic of Congo, or developing oil and gas reserves in Mozambique.
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