LNR: Belarus Purchases Coal From Us

The Ministry of Energy of the "LNR" refuted Siamashka’s words.

Who in Belarus imports coal from the region controlled by the separatists?

Last week, Chairman of administration of the so-called "LNR" Igor Plotnitsky said in an interview to Izvestia that the self-proclaimed "republic" was negotiating with Belarus about coal supplies.

According to Plotnitsky, difficulties arise with the export of this natural resource and with the formulation of appropriate certificates.

Today, on the sidelines of the Belarusian Industrial Forum, Deputy Prime Minister of Belarus Uladzimir Siamashka, in an interview with journalists, refuted the information about the purchase of coal from the LNR. According to Siamashka, the government of Belarus does not conduct such negotiations.

Meanwhile, Viktor Tkachenko, head of the production and prospective development department of the coal industry of the Ministry of Fuel, Energy and Coal Industry, said the following in an interview to Belsat:

"Of course, Belarus buys coal from us. However, at the moment there are no financial relations between the Belarusian state structures and the LNR. We are at the stage of negotiations with the official Minsk, the final decision is only being taken. However, private companies from Belarus have already repeatedly purchased a batch of products: coal, anthracite, from the LNR".

Tkachenko refused to name the volumes of supplies and the names of private enterprises, referring to a commercial secret.

"Yes, it’s possible that private enterprises, small and medium businesses can be interested in supplying coal from Donbas. Leaders of industry today work with gas, not coal, so the state does not really need it. I don’t think there are large volumes. This is an initiative of individual entrepreneurs," - expert in the energy field Tatsiana Manenok says.

We found one of the companies that offers anthracite with the tag "Origin of goods: Donbas" on the site of ads. According to the official website of LLC Belkarbotrans, the company supplies coal and anthracite to Belarus, as well as to Russia, Ukraine, Moldova, Slovakia, the Baltic States and Poland. Significant shipments go abroad: transportation is conducted by rail. In total, the company's sales for the year amount to $ 1-5 million.

"The last time we bought anthracite from Donbas was in October 2015, for a whole year. Until the end of 2016 the party was sold. Among the main consumers there are the Skidel sugar factory and the sugar plant in Haradzeya. They probably bought this anthracite," - Sergey N., a sales specialist in the LLC Belkarbotrans said.

Concerning coal, last year the enterprise supplied 2 850 tons of this natural resource to the Belarusian Railways.

"Yes, through exchange trades we managed to supply such a quantity to the Belarusian Railways, we won the corresponding tender. However, it was coal from Russia, from Khakassia, " - the expert said.

In the same year, according to the company’s employee, the LLC Belkarbotrans bought neither coal nor anthracite from the LNR. However, there are more than a dozen such companies on the Belarusian market.

Thus, it turns out that, in practice, small and little-known legal entities have the opportunity to supply natural resources to large state structures.