Russia's MinFin mulls options to support Alrosa, incl. buying diamonds for repository - Siluanov

MOSCOW. May 7 (Interfax) - Russia's Finance Ministry is considering various options to support diamond miner Alrosa , including the possibility of buying rough diamonds for state repository Gokhran, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov told reporters.

"We're considering various options to support the company that have also been used in previous difficult situation in terms of selling rough diamonds on world markets. This refers to the possibility of buying rough diamonds within the context of our Gokhran interventions. We're buying gold for Gokhran and along with this metal we're prepared to consider buying rough diamonds," Siluanov said.

"In our view, rough diamonds are an asset that is sought after and will be liquid as an asset that can be put away as government reserves in Gokhran," he said. Decisions on future purchases have not been made at this point, but they might be, he said.

Alrosa "on the whole feels confident," he added. "The debt to EBITDA [ratio] rose a little because EBITDA decreased slightly due to trends on world markets, but the debt itself did not increase," Siluanov said.