Son of Putin’s former chief of staff may head Russia’s diamond giant
Amongst the candidates for head of Russia’s diamond giant ALROSA is Sberbank vice-president Sergei Ivanov, the son of Putin’s former Chief-of-Staff Sergei Ivanov, announced deputy Prime Minister Yuri Trutnev on Monday.
ALROSA’s current head Andrei Zharkov has resigned and the decision on the new head will be made at the company’s next board meeting.
According to sources cited by Interfax, Zharkov left ALROSA because of a disagreement with Minister of Finance Anton Siluanov, who also heads the company’s board. Zharkov voted against the reducing the company’s long-term investments, calling the measure “unjustified.” Zharkov’s contract was set to expire in 2018.
Sergei Ivanov, Jr. joined Sberbank in 2016. Prior to that, he spent five years working as head of insurance company SOGAZ. After graduating from Moscow State Institute in 2002, Ivanov, Jr. also worked at Gazprom and Gazprombank.
ALROSA is Russia’s largest diamond mining company. It mines 95 percent of the country’s diamonds and makes up one quarter of the world’s total production.