Widespread Wage Delays Have Begun In Russia
- 30.08.2026, 17:32
Nearly 2,000 miners in Kuzbass haven't been paid in months.
More than 1,700 miners at the “Severny Kuzbass” company have not been paid since October 2025. The workers themselves reported this in a video message to candidates for the State Duma. It was published by "Siberian Express".
The miners asked for intervention regarding the debt, which, according to them, “has exceeded half a billion rubles.” “Many have left, some were forced to resign, but the debt owed to them remains,” — the miners noted. According to them, the promises made by Governor Ilya Seredyuk “have led to nothing,” just like the criminal cases filed over the non-payment of wages.
The authors of the appeal also noted that in the Kemerovo Region, this situation “keeps repeating itself from mine to mine.” “We are patient people. But Kuzbass remembers all too well what silence and non-payment to miners have led to in the past. Miners have always fought for their rights. And, if necessary, they will fight for them now as well… We are not asking for charity; we are demanding what we have earned through our hard work as miners,” the workers emphasized.
“Severny Kuzbass” mines coal at the “Pervomayskaya” and “Berezovskaya” mines and also owns a coal preparation plant as well as service and transportation companies. The company is headed by Stanislav Lupiy, who was previously elected to the Council of Deputies of the Kemerovo Municipal District as a member of “United Russia.”
Problems with paying miners’ wages at “Severny Kuzbass” first came to light in the fall of 2025. The governor promised to resolve the issue within a month, but this did not happen. In May 2026, the Investigative Committee reported that the amount owed had exceeded 256 million rubles. According to the Investigative Committee, Lupiy diverted money intended for miners to pay the bills of companies under his control and awarded bonuses to himself and the company’s management.
After the war in Ukraine began, the Russian coal industry faced a severe crisis. According to the governor, 80% of coal enterprises in the Kemerovo Region are operating at a loss. “This has been going on for four years now. At first, we waited and persevered, but now it’s becoming unbearable,” Seredyuk stated on August 24. He also spoke about the closure of 18 coal enterprises in the region, noting that “six or seven of them are irretrievably lost.”
In April, Seredyuk reported that 33 coal enterprises in Kuzbass were in the “red zone,” and coal production had fallen to 2011 levels. Among the causes of the crisis, he cited sanctions, sales problems, rising mining costs, and increased rail freight rates.
The Kuzbass coal industry employs more than 100,000 people and comprises over 150 enterprises. The region accounts for 50% of Russia’s total coal production.
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