The Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation has dismissed any plans to extend state aid to diamond mining giant Alrosa, which was recently sanctioned by the EU, Rough & Polished reports. This potential aid would have taken the form of the state fund Gokhran purchasing rough and polished diamonds.
Deputy Finance Minister Alexei Moiseev was quoted by Interfax as saying: “There are no signs yet that [state aid] will be required. The company has a colossal resilience, it has a negative net debt, and with a large margin at that.”
That being said, Moiseev acknowledged the sanctions as an “unpleasant story” and expressed a wait-and-see approach on its development. He further noted that Alrosa had been anticipating sanctions, as “our opponents had been talking about it for a long time.”
The G7 nations officially declared sanctions on Russian diamonds on December 6th. G7 leaders said in a statement issued by the White House: “We will introduce import restrictions on non-industrial diamonds, mined, processed, or produced in Russia, by January 1, 2024, followed by further phased restrictions on the import of Russian diamonds processed in third countries targeting March 1, 2024.” This decision followed a virtual meeting attended by Ukraine’s President, Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
The leaders have outlined the establishment of a “robust traceability-based verification and certification mechanism for rough diamonds” by September 1, 2024, though specific details were not provided.
