The Russian state diamond company, which explores the Catoca mine, the main supplier of diamonds in Angola in partnership with Endiama, and also participates in the concession of the Luaxi mining project, was sanctioned by the US and the UK due to the conflict. Russian.
This Monday, during a meeting with journalists in Luanda, to mark the opening of the Jornadas do Mineiro, Angolan officials devalued the impact of these decisions, ensuring that measures were adopted to minimize the impact on mining operations in Angola.
"We are not dependent on Alrosa to develop Catoca and Luaxi", said minister Diamantino Azevedo, indicating that the mining project has already started the experimental production phase.
The official underlined the "capacity" of Angolan resources, which has shown that they are prepared to meet the needs of the mining industry and added that there is an "action plan".
"When this situation started between Ukraine and Russia, we took preventive measures, we saw what the possible scenarios were and we are working so that, in the face of the facts, we can implement the scenarios foreseen", said the minister without going into details.
The president of state-owned diamond company Endiama, Ganga Júnior, stressed that "some measures were taken to ensure that sanctions do not reflect negatively" on Angolan production, but stressed that there is currently a weak demand in the diamond market, with implications for the decline of prices.
"The situation is not easy and it is not limited to Catoca, but to the entire diamond market", he stressed.
He also admitted that there are difficulties "related to banking operations", namely salaries paid to Russian employees of Alrosa.
"Transfer operations to Russia we were not able to do, other ways are being used", he said, without specifying.
Russia launched a military offensive in Ukraine on February 24 that killed at least 1842 civilians, including 148 children, and wounded 2493, including 233 minors, according to the latest UN data, which warns of the likelihood of the real number of civilian casualties be much higher.
The war has already caused an undetermined number of military casualties and the flight of more than 11 million people, of which 4.5 million to neighboring countries.
This is the worst refugee crisis in Europe since World War II (1939-1945) and the United Nations estimates that around 13 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance.
The Russian invasion was condemned by the international community in general, which responded by sending weapons to Ukraine and reinforcing economic and political sanctions on Moscow.
