Moscow – Alrosa, one of the world’s largest diamond mining companies, announced that President Fyodor Andreev is resigning for medical reasons.
The Moscow-based miner said in a short statement that Andreev announced his decision Monday at the company’s weekly management meeting. First Vice President Ilya Ryashchin will take over as acting president of Alrosa while the 47-year-old Andreev will remain a member of the company’s supervisory board.
Alrosa could not immediately be reached for further comment on Andreev’s future replacement or his resignation.
Online Russian news website Kommersant reported in June that Russia’s deputy prime minister had been opposed to extending Andreev’s contract. In September, the Russian Finance Ministry, Federal Property Management Agency and Audit Chamber started a probe into Alrosa transactions, according to Kommersant.
Andreev has been CEO of Alrosa since July 2009, taking over after the ouster of Sergey Vybornov.
During his tenure, the company went public and began trading on the Moscow Stock Exchange, and also began a push to increase its visibility around the globe, including in the United States. Alrosa signed an agreement to sell any big, high-quality diamonds it mines through Sotheby’s and began holding regular rough tenders in New York.
The company’s stated goal is to overtake De Beers’ as the world’s largest producer of diamonds by value by 2018. (Alrosa already is the world’s largest diamond producer in volume terms.)
