According to Kommersant, ALROSA Company intends to review the cooperation agreement with US Lazare Kaplan International (LKI), which was regarded as an alternative to De Beers.

Russian diamond monopolist doubts if the agreement signed in 1996 is still effective and has decided to audit the contract. According to the agreement, the companies cut diamonds weighing over 2 ct in Moscow (the amount of gemstones is $45 mln annually), and then sell them in the USA. Now the heads of ALROSA consider this agreement to be unremunerative. Moreover, Russian legislation provides diamonds sales at auctions only, while LKI was an exeption – it was able to choose gemstones before the auction.

In response, LKI sent a letter to eth Minister of Finance of Russia Alexei Kudrin with an offer to judge the situation. Neither LKI nor ALROSA have yet commented on the situation.