By John Helmer in Moscow A pledge to privatize Alrosa in an initial public offering (IPO) within 18 months, reported to have come from Alrosa chief executive Sergei Vybornov this week in Japan, has run into scepticism and cautions from diamond sector officials in Moscow. According to a Russian news agency report, Vybornov told a […]

by John Helmer - Friday, September 28th, 2007
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By John Helmer in Moscow Alrosa is retrieving its diamond market positions after initial misstatements by new CEO Alrosa, the Russian diamond miner with the largest share of the global rough diamonds market after De Beers, is reconsidering its international market strategy, and correcting several misstatements by its newly appointed chief executive, Sergei Vybornov. Veteran […]

by John Helmer - Tuesday, July 3rd, 2007
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By John Helmer in Moscow One of the greatest of the English humourists, writing under the pen-name of Saki, once opened a tale of a disastrous horse-ride with the observation that one of the characters “was looking about as pale as a beetroot that has suddenly heard bad news”. To aficionadoes of Saki, the wit […]

by John Helmer - Monday, May 28th, 2007
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In the most famous words ever addressed to a gemstone ring, the Princess Elizabeth greeted news of the death of her rival, Queen Mary, with the words: “This is the Lord’s doing. It is marvellous in our eyes.” Alrosa officials said almost as much last week — without the hyperbole, but increasingly conscious of the […]

by John Helmer - Monday, April 17th, 2006
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MOSCOW (Mineweb.com) – If Israeli diamantaire Lev Leviev and trade mediator Arkady Gaydamak buy football clubs, as they have recently done, the Roman Empire rule of thumb would be that the businesses of the two men are running into difficulty. English tabloid readers have been told that Roman Abramovich — the Russian oligarch who accumulated […]

by John Helmer - Monday, January 16th, 2006
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MOSCOW (Mineweb.com) — It was a year ago when the President of the Sakha republic in fareastem Siberia, Vyacheslav Shtirov, was summoned to :the Kremlin for a meeting with President Vladimir Putin. That was not a jolly exchange of seasonal cheer; and because certain New Year promises that were made then have not been kept, […]

by John Helmer - Friday, December 23rd, 2005
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MOSCOW (Mineweb.com) –Two things are known for certain about the conversation President Vladimir Putin had with Sakha region president Vyacheslav Shtirov in the Kremlin, at the end of December. One is that Shtirov invited Putin to come to the region for fishing. The other is that Putin replied that now is not the time. Maybe […]

by John Helmer - Friday, February 18th, 2005
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According to the Russian Christmas Day tradition, Dyed Moroz (“Father Frost”, aka St. Nicholas, Santa Claus) makes his annual visit to children to question them, before he distributes the presents. He is assisted by Snegourochka (“Snow Girl”). It can happen that she is late. Then Dyed Moroz is obliged to ask the children to call […]

by John Helmer - Tuesday, December 28th, 2004
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When President Vladimir Putin this week handed a visibly nervous Vyacheslav Shtirov a bouquet of flowers in a red wrapper, a revolution in Russian diamond policy began. The flowers were a farewell from the Kremlin for the man who has headed Almazy Rossii-Sakha (Alrosa), Russia’s dominant diamond miner and the principal source of wealth for […]

by John Helmer - Friday, December 14th, 2001
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