The Russian federal government, which controls a 37 % stake in diamond mining monopoly Alrosa and is looking to increase that to a majority shareholding, has named two more officials to the company�s board of directors, in addition to the six government officials already sitting on the board on February 22, 2006.

The new nominees are Ministry of Finance official A. Akhpolov and presidential aide I. Sirosh. The six sitting members are Minister of Finance Alexei Kudrin, Deputy Minister of Industry and Energy Ivan Materov, Deputy Head of the Federal Property Agency (Rosimuschetsvo) Yury Medvedev, Head of Department at Rosimuschetsvo Gleb Nikitin, presidential aide Sergei Samoilov, and Deputy Head of Department at the Ministry of Finance Leonid Tolpezhnikov.

Other shareholders in Alrosa are the government of the autonomous Republic of Yakutia, home to Alrosa�s major mine, with 32 %; company officials with 23 %; and local Yakutian regions with 8%.