I'm sure being in the "pawning off your jewels" stage is not indicative of anything concerning for them.

Honestly, with lab grown diamonds disrupting the market, keeping money in gems seems dumb as fuck in 2026. Get rid of that shit while you can.

Russia's Finance Ministry said will hold an open auction in Moscow on September 9 to sell natural rough diamonds weighing 10.8 carats or more from the country's state fund.  

The central bank has sold 43.5 metric tons of gold since January while Russia's federal budget deficit approached 6 trillion roubles (€67 billion) in the first half of the year. 

I wonder if Putin will tap into the many, many, many billions he has stolen over the decades, to keep his little round of FAFO going?

They're probably selling because lab grown diamonds are indistinguishable from natural diamonds and the value of their diamond stock is plummeting

Russia is in a major fuel crisis, this won't help. The Russian economy is in a severe recession which will get worse as Ukraine continues to destroy their logistics. Putin should announce leaving Ukraine immediately, it's the only way to stop Russia from falling apart.

Something about selling off the uncut diamonds from the vault seems extra desperate. They also significantly increased personal income tax rates last year, which is usually unpopular and not something you'd want to do in bad economic conditions, but that war-shaped budget hole is just too big and hungry.

10.8 carats worth of diamonds is almost nothing for a state. Half a million USD if it was all one single stone, but probably in the tens of thousands USD for multiple stones, I believe.