NEW YORK — Russian diamond-mining company Alrosa has suspended its membership in the Natural Diamond Council.
The company “has stepped down from the Board and will cease all financial contributions,” according to a March 4 press release from NDC. The council added that “our thoughts remain with people impacted by the current geopolitical crisis.”
Alrosa said in its own statement:
ALROSA decided to suspend its membership in Natural Diamond Council (NDC). The current situation is unprecedented, the company continues to monitor and analyze repercussions it might have for the industry and relationships that have been built over decades across the world. ALROSA takes time to reassess the portfolio of its key projects, standing firm with the principles of sustainability and full transparency. ALROSA does everything necessary to mitigate the outcome of the happenings in the interests of its clients, partners, including industry organizations, multi thousand family of employees and hundreds of thousands of people in the regions of operations. The company hopes that the industry will stand strong during this tough time and the situation will soon stabilize.
The Alrosa release included a statement from David Kellie, CEO of NDC:
We understand and respect ALROSA’s decision given the current geopolitical situation. We are confident that ALROSA will continue to follow its outlined commitments to being a socially responsible business conducted according to the industry’s best practices and high standards. For dozens of years ALROSA has been investing billions of dollars into building and supporting communities around its operations. We wish the company the quickest resolution of all the difficulties encountered.
NDC is a trade organization whose members’ operations span six continents and more than a dozen countries, including Canada, South Africa, Botswana and Australia.
On March 3, Alrosa also temporarily left the board of directors of the Responsible Jewellery Council, where it held the position of vice chair. The company stated that it “stays committed to the RJC’s highest standards of responsible business practices and sustainability pledges, and continues to contribute to the positive impact to the communities and the people where it operates.”
In late February, Alrosa was among the institutions hit with U.S. sanctions following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The sanctions “target the core infrastructure of the Russian financial system — including all of Russia’s largest financial institutions and the ability of state-owned and private entities to raise capital — and further bar Russia from the global financial system,” according to a press release from the U.S. Treasury.
Alrosa is among entities subject to prohibitions related to new debt and equity.
The institutions “are now heavily restricted from raising money through the U.S. market — a key source of capital and revenue generation, which limits the Kremlin’s ability to raise money for its malign activity — including to support the further invasion of Ukraine,” according to the release.
Alrosa CEO Sergei Sergeevich Ivanov was also listed among “Russian elites” targeted by U.S. sanctions.