Mr Putin said at the Mir mine: "I have just seen from a plane; it looks very impressive."

Fyodor Andreyev, president of the Alrosa diamond miner, ordered the launch of ore production and the first mine car with kimberlite ore rolled out of the mine some 10 minutes later. Mr Putin inspected some of the clots and found a diamond in one of them.

He congratulated the staff on the first output and said, in part:

"As I see it, there is enough work here for another 50 years. This is very impressive. On the whole, everything you are doing here is very impressive. I am proud of you.

"The current situation in the industry is not simple, but you are not responsible for that. It is a result of changes on the global market. In the past few years, the republic and your mine mined a large amount of diamonds, worth $70 billion, of which your share was $17.5 billion.

"We are confident of the industry's eventual revival, alongside the global situation. Experts say that the [diamond] demand in the industry has not decreased much, only by some 5%. That means that we should help the sector at this difficult time. It means we should allocate considerable funds to it, some $1 billion, or 35 billion roubles. We have already passed that decision. And we will do it - we will support you. The country needs your sector precisely because the market will rebound since the demand [for your output] is high, and so that your sector will be in very big demand.

"I would like to say that your working conditions have remained stable, you are well paid - although some say that oil companies pay more. But the average pay is not bad at 40,000-50,000 and even 80,000 roubles. This is logical, given the [difficult] conditions you are working in.

"I wish you every success and I am confident that your work will remain as efficient as it has been until now."