The Belarusian news outlet Naviny reported on companies that were behind Russian coal supplies from Belarus to Ukraine, as was earlier reported that Ukraine last year boosted imports of anthracite coal from Belarus, which was not mined there.
According to the publication, mainly lean coal originating from the Kiyzassky open-pit mine, managed by businessman Dmitry Bosov’s Russia-based VostokCoal, was supplied from Belarus to Ukraine. His fortune, according to Forbes, is estimated at $950 million. Bosov’s coal business partner is his fellow student and Brest native Vladimir Mikulik.
Belarusian traders who buy coal in Russia do not exclude that coal mined in Russia-occupied Donbas, the self-proclaimed “Donetsk People’s Republic (“DPR”) and Luhansk People’s Republic (“LPR”), which are controlled by Russian proxy forces, is also delivered together with Russian coal.
In Ukraine, Belarusian coal was purchased by Tehnova (Chernihiv CHPP) and Euro-Reconstruction (Kyiv’s Darnytska CHPP). Both companies are parts of Ukrteploenergo of the ex-Member of Parliament Anatoliy Shkriblyak.
Belarusian coal was also supplied to Podilsky Cement, a cement plant, a part of the Irish holding CRH, and to Slovyanska thermal power plant, owned by Donbasenergo. In 2018, Maksym Yefimov, a MP from the Petro Poroshenko Bloc, bought the company from the son of former president Viktor Yanukovych. Coal from Belarus was also bought by Ami Trade, which sold coal in the rural area.
According to Ukrainian customs statistics, four Belarusian companies were engaged in coal supply: Gomel Business Alliance LLC (80,260 toes) and Trans-Ugol LLC (46,290 tons), as well as Ecoil Chemical LLC (27,070 tons) from the Polotsk district, and Ecoline Systems LLC (20,110 tons) from Minsk. These are companies with small charter capitals (from 100 to 300 rubles) and they were registered from 2014 to 2018. (UNIAN/Ukrainian metal)