Rusal Names Controversial Ex-Ambassador to Head Guinea Office

(Bloomberg) -- United Co. Rusal named a controversial former Russian ambassador to Guinea to head its unit in the West African nation, raising local fears of Russian influence on next year’s presidential elections.

The aluminum giant announced the appointment on Friday of Alexander Bregadze, who served as ambassador to Guinea for eight years until March. Bregadze sparked a public outcry in January when he praised Guinea’s President Alpha Conde in a speech on state TV as “legendary” and said constitutions aren’t dogma and can be changed. Guinea is among several African countries with vast mineral wealth where Russia has pushed to expand its military and political influence in recent years.

Bregadze’s comments came as Guinea’s opposition and civil-society groups have repeatedly expressed concern that 81-year-old Conde may try to amend the constitution and run for a third term. While Conde is due to step down in 2020, his refusal to address any questions about his intentions has fueled widespread speculation he plans to stay in office.

A spokesman for Rusal’s Guinea office, Yuriy Grigoryev, couldn’t be reached when contacted by Bloomberg on Saturday.

Guinea, which has the world’s largest bauxite reserves, is Rusal’s single biggest supplier of the ore. Rusal operates in Guinea through its subsidiary Compagnie des Bauxite de Kindia, or CBK, and is developing the Dian-Dian bauxite deposit which has reserves estimated at 564 million tons.

To contact the reporter on this story: Ougna Camara in Conakry at ocamara@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Karl Maier at kmaier2@bloomberg.net, Pauline Bax, Stephen Treloar

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