BMZ Is Drowning In Debt

A Belarusian state-owned company was billed for millions by a Russian court.

The Arbitration Court of the Lipetsk Region ruled to collect 153.2 million Russian rubles from the Belarusian Metallurgical Plant in favor of the Yelets Mine, reports "Belarusians and the Market".

And this is not the first such dispute—the same supplier had previously sought to recover 132 million Russian rubles from the Belarusian steelmakers. But Belarus’s industrial giant has once again fallen into debt.

The case involves a lawsuit filed by the Russian LLC “Yeletsky Mining and Processing Plant,” known as “Gornyak,” against OJSC “Belarusian Metallurgical Plant”—the managing company of the “Belarusian Metallurgical Company” holding group.

According to the case file, in January 2025, the parties entered into a contract for the supply of limestone. The Russian company delivered the goods, but the Belarusian plant, as indicated in the court documents, did not pay the full amount. This resulted in a debt of 150.3 million Russian rubles.

The supplier charged an additional 5.5 million Russian rubles in late fees and filed a claim against BMZ. However, the debt was not fully repaid—the matter had to go to arbitration.

The plant made a small payment, but it was not enough

During the proceedings, BMZ transferred 2.6 million Russian rubles. After that, the plaintiff reduced its claims to 153.2 million Russian rubles. The court found these claims to be justified.

The ruling has not yet taken legal effect and may be appealed. But the story itself already looks bad: a major Belarusian state-owned enterprise finds itself in a Russian court not because of a complex corporate dispute, but because of something trivial—the supplier shipped raw materials but did not receive full payment.

This is not an isolated incident

BMZ is not some small private firm that failed to pay for a couple of railcars of crushed stone. It is one of Belarus’s key industrial assets, a state-owned plant in Zhlobin, a flagship of the Belarusian metallurgical industry, and part of the BMK holding company.

In September 2025, “Gornyak” had already collected 132 million Russian rubles in debt from BMZ under a supply contract. Later, the Belarusian company asked the court for a payment deferral, citing its “extremely difficult financial situation caused by the unfavorable geopolitical situation” due to EU and U.S. sanctions.

The courts—both the trial court and the appellate court—denied the request for a deferral. In other words, this is not simply a dispute of the “we didn’t pay the bill on time” variety. This is a recurring pattern: a Belarusian industrial giant buys raw materials from a Russian supplier, then the case goes to court, and the arguments involve sanctions, financial hardship, and requests for leniency.

BMZ can still appeal the decision. But even if the amount is contested, the main question remains: why is one of Belarus’s largest factories, for the second time in a short period, facing a major lawsuit from the same Russian supplier?

This is a bad sign for the Belarusian economy. When industrial flagships start resolving supply issues through the courts, it means that somewhere beneath the glossy reports, the metal is already creaking. And it’s not creaking from the production load, but from debt.

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