In 2015 Russian companies illegally imported 1.3 million tons of anthracite from the occupied territories of Ukraine.
This coal was then exported to Europe and Africa, according to the Russian Customs Service and Russian Railroads. Most of the companies don’t state the origin of such coal.
Last year Russia exported some 800 thousand tons of coal from Ukraine, and 470 thousand tons were marked as “country of origin undefined”, despite the fact that Ukrainian mines were stated as producers.
Before war in Donbass began the region mined over 21 million tons of coal. As the result of the war some mines were destroyed, and the current output volumes in the ATO zone are unknown. But in 2015 Ukraine imported 8.5 million tons of coal. That’s 40% of the pre-war imports. If coal output in the occupied regions decreased 1.5 times, to 14 million tons, 6 million tons of anthracite remain. The only way for them is the illegal export to Russia. (Ukrainian metal)