Putin says De Beers is "apparently the main competitor" to Alrosa

At the third Russia-Africa summit on Oct. 28, Vladimir Putin said De Beers is seeking tighter ties with Russia, according to the Russian state news agency TASS. The Russian president described the diamond company as Alrosa’s likely leading rival and said it was looking to build relations with Russia and its miner, adding that Moscow would favor such an arrangement, TASS reported. He gave no specifics about what cooperation might entail or whether talks had occurred. According to the same report, Putin also said sanctions on Russian diamonds and producers were obstructing work with India and damaging that country’s diamond-processing sector, though Russia was still finding ways to collaborate. De Beers and parent Anglo American had not commented publicly, and the claim had not been independently confirmed by Western or other independent sources; Russian outlets carried the TASS report.