The Stone of Worship: how Russian jade became Chinese gold
The demand for jade has reached a fundamentally new level in recent years. The main consumer of high—end raw materials is China, where the mineral is valued above gold. Russia, which has substantial reserves of jade, has established a criminal business for its illegal extraction and smuggling. Details can be found in the Izvestia article.
A suitcase worth a million
A foreign citizen tried to take almost 40 kg of unprocessed jade to Dubai, hiding the stones in two suitcases, the Novosibirsk customs reported in early September.
A 23-year-old man was detained at Tolmachevo airport on a flight to Dubai. The passenger proceeded through the "green corridor", however, during a random X-ray inspection, inspectors noticed a lot of dense objects in two suitcases. After opening the luggage, they found 29 mineral stones of different colors with a total weight of almost 40 kg.
When questioned by customs officers, the passenger replied that the stones were intended for an office aquarium, and stated that he did not know about the prohibitions on the export of the mineral. The examination, however, showed that what was seized was not just beautiful pebbles, but untreated jade.
No souvenirs.
Jade is included in the list of goods for which a permissive procedure has been established for movement across the customs border of the EAEU, explains lawyer Ekaterina Krasnova. The export of this mineral by individuals is prohibited even for personal use.
— It is forbidden to export such a mineral, even if a person sincerely believes that he is carrying decor for an office or aquarium. For customs, what matters is not the story that the passenger tells, but what actually moves across the border," explains Krasnova.
According to Krasnova, passing through the "green corridor" in this case also entails legal consequences.
"By choosing the green corridor, the passenger declares that he has no goods subject to mandatory declaration or subject to prohibitions and restrictions," the lawyer emphasizes. — If, during the inspection, strategic raw materials or other goods are found for which a permit is required, this forms part of Article 16.3 of the Administrative Code of the Russian Federation. Ignorance does not absolve from responsibility, especially if we are talking about dozens of kilograms of mineral raw materials, and not about one random souvenir.
The sanctions under this article may be tangible.
— Article 16.3 of the Administrative Code of the Russian Federation "Non—compliance with prohibitions or restrictions" generally provides for a fine with possible confiscation of infringing items, - says Krasnova. — For individuals, this is usually an administrative fine in a multiple of the value of the product or in a fixed range, plus confiscation of the mineral itself to the state's revenue.
Not just suitcases
The case in Tolmachevo is just one of the episodes of illegal jade trafficking. According to the owner of a large Russian site for the sale of stone jewelry, in China, where the bulk of the mineral mined in Russia goes, jade has been revered for more than 5,000 years, and the cost of products made from it in the domestic market in China reaches hundreds of dollars.
Criminal schemes range from exotic to industrial. So, in May 2026, at the border with Mongolia, Buryat customs officers detained a 55-year-old foreign woman who taped a bag of jade to her lower back. The woman admitted that she agreed to transportation for a fee of 5,000 rubles, realizing the illegality of her actions.
And in February 2026, in Buryatia, a court sentenced two local residents to four years of probation for attempting to export more than 15 tons of jade worth over 92 million rubles to China. The investigation revealed that the men had purchased 248 blocks of illegally mined mineral in the Tunka district, packed it up and transported it to a hangar in Irkutsk for further shipment abroad. All the jade was confiscated for state revenue.
The "black geologists" of Buryatia are not minor troublemakers, they are united in real criminal gangs. In July 2023, an operational video of a shootout between security forces and illegal jade miners in the Okinsky district on the territory of the deposit was released. The criminals rode horses and ATVs, and fired traumatic and hunting weapons. 40 people were detained.
What kind of stone
Jade is not a precious stone, but a unique jewelry and ornamental material, whose exceptional viscosity and strength are due to the tangled fibrous structure of amphiboles, which makes it ideal for artistic carving, explained Vladimir Gorozhankin, Candidate of Geological and Mineralogical Sciences, to Izvestia. Jade deposits are found all over the world, from Canada and New Zealand to Australia and Italy, but the oldest and largest are in Xinjiang, China, where mining has been going on for thousands of years.
— At first, tools and weapons were made from jade, but in China it was valued above gold, symbolizing power. Today it is a material for interior products and jewelry inserts," the expert adds. According to him, there are more than 20 mineral deposits in Russia, most of which are located in Buryatia. The reserves of the republic account for approximately 97% of all explored in the country and amount to about 26 thousand tons. For comparison, in Australia, reserves are estimated at 80 thousand tons.
Why is it so expensive
According to the owner of a large jade jewelry sales site, who wished to remain anonymous, it is the imbalance of supply and demand, as well as strict regulation of jade turnover in Russia, that give rise to smuggling. The main channel is the illegal export of high—grade white jade to China with forged documents and routes through third countries, and only in cases of intercepted shipments the cost of shipments reached 400 million rubles.
— This is not just a stone, in Chinese culture for thousands of years, jade has been a sacred material, a kind of quintessence of nobility, — says the interlocutor of Izvestia. — Products made from it are found in graves from 3 to 5 thousand years old, and the norm has become fixed in the consciousness of Chinese society: you must have a jade amulet with you.
However, Chinese deposits, as a rule, do not produce the quality found in Russia. We are talking about river white jade, the so-called pellets. These stones, polished by water for many millennia, are considered the highest form of this mineral.
— The cost of one such "cobblestone" can reach a million rubles, and finished products from it go to auctions for absolutely fantastic amounts, — says the interlocutor.
Corruption scandals in China itself are evidence of the severity of the problem. During searches of high-ranking officials, funeral urns made of white jade are often found. This is considered a sign not just of wealth, but of a status available to a select few. It is noteworthy that the defendants in such cases are trying to hide especially valuable specimens from distant relatives in the villages.
The main stones
According to the expert, in the 90s there was a massive uncontrolled export of jade. To date, the export of jade raw materials is prohibited: only finished products can be traded. However, as practice shows, this ban does not stop the shadow sector. Control over the fields in Buryatia and the surrounding territories has been held by local clans for decades, the entrepreneur says.
"There is a whole underground infrastructure with caches, and, unfortunately, law enforcement agencies cannot always block these channels," he complains.
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