Grib Is Among Latest Targets of US Sanctions

The US government has imposed sanctions on Russia-based company AGD Diamonds and its subsidiary Grib Diamonds.

AGD owns the Grib mine in Russia, while Grib Diamonds sells rough from the deposit through its Belgium-based operations. The entities are two of nearly 100 that the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) targeted on September 14.

The government entity also slapped sanctions on Vitalij Victorovich Perfilev, a Russian Wagner Group official currently serving as national security adviser to the Central African Republic (CAR) president. Perfilev’s designation is important to the jewelry industry due to the links between the Wagner Group and the sub-Saharan African gold sector, according to a member alert from the Jewelers Vigilance Committee (JVC).

“With today’s sanctions, the United States is continuing our relentless work to target Russia’s military supply chains and deprive Putin of the equipment, technology and services he needs to wage his barbaric war on Ukraine,” said Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen. “We have also made clear that those individuals and entities who profit from invasion and their proximity to the Kremlin will be held accountable, and today’s actions show our global reach in imposing severe costs on Putin’s oligarchs.”

OFAC has previously issued sanctions against other parties in the industry, including Alrosa and its former CEO Sergey Ivanov. In July, it added the company’s current CEO, Pavel Marinychev, as well as Ural Mining and Metallurgical Company, one of  Russia’s largest producers of metals such as copper, zinc and gold.

Image: Rough diamonds from the Grib mine. (Grib Diamonds)