By John Helmer in Moscow When the Kremlin decides to privatize strategic resource assets, it makes a habit of quietly arranging the buyers in advance. Although such privatizations are always announced as serving the requirement of the state treasury to maximize the asset value and take in the largest amount of cash possible for the […]

by John Helmer - Wednesday, February 24th, 2010
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By John Helmer in Moscow Alrosa announced last week that it has appointed Vasily Grabtsevich as a special senior executive for managing relations between the two controlling shareholders of the company, the federal government in Moscow and the Sakha republic government in Yakutsk. The federal government controls almost 51% of the closed shareholding of Alrosa; […]

by John Helmer - Monday, December 28th, 2009
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By John Helmer in Moscow Russia’s state stockpile agency Gokhran has this week released details of next year’s state funding for rough diamond purchases from Alrosa, revealing for the first time the average price per carat that will be paid. According to a direct Gokran source and to an Interfax briefing by another Gokhran official, […]

by John Helmer - Friday, December 18th, 2009
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By John Helmer in Moscow Archangel Diamond Corporation (ADC) has re-emerged from a bankruptcy proceeding initiated earlier this year by De Beers, to launch new charges in the Colorado state court against Russian oil company LUKoil, and well-known Russian oligarchs, Vagit Alekperov (lead bearer) and Alisher Usmanov (2nd bearer). ADC is now being directed by […]

by John Helmer - Monday, December 14th, 2009
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Interview with Maxim Shkadov by Vladimir Kulakov and John Helmer The 36-year old Kristall Production Corporation is one of the world’s leading producers of polished diamonds, and Russia’s biggest. It remains 100% state owned under the supervision of the federal Ministry of Finance, and is headquartered at Smolensk, where it cuts and polishes diamonds, before […]

by John Helmer - Tuesday, November 24th, 2009
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By John Helmer in Moscow A flurry of sales and revenue claims posted on the Alrosa website have yet to be substantiated by the chief executive, Fyodor Andreyev, or his spokesman, Andrei Polyakov. Their silence four months into Andreyev’s term in office recalls the claims, issued in June and July by the former chief executive, […]

by John Helmer - Wednesday, November 11th, 2009
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By John Helmer in Moscow Alrosa’s new management, headed by Fyodor Andreyev (right picture), has announced this month that, despite one of the worst years on record for global diamond demand, the Russian company expects to sell roughly the same dollar value of diamonds this year as last, and to earn a bottom-line profit as […]

by John Helmer - Thursday, October 29th, 2009
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By John Helmer in Moscow Alrosa appears to be selling all of its rough diamond production this year to the state stockpile agency, Gokhran, exceeding earlier estimates of the state budget funds previously allocated to sustain the state-owned company’s mining operations. Both Alrosa and Gokhran are under the control of Russia’s Finance Minister, Alexei Kudrin […]

by John Helmer - Wednesday, October 7th, 2009
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By John Helmer in Moscow No sooner had De Beers and Archangel Diamond Corporation (ADC) revived last Friday, September 4, their US litigation plan of attack against LUKoil and its senior management, headed by Vagit Alekperov, than Alekperov issued an unprecedented statement saying he is thinking of selling out of diamonds altogether. Until now,Alekperov has […]

by John Helmer - Monday, September 7th, 2009
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By John Helmer in Moscow De Beers has accepted a new plan which makes litigation in a Denver, Colorado, courtroom against LUKoil the centrepiece of the diamond-miner’s survival strategy; and the prospect of multi-million dollar compensation the Toronto-listed company’s most valuable asset. A new document, filed this week in the US Bankrupty Court in Denver […]

by John Helmer - Thursday, September 3rd, 2009
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