Media have reported about illegal coal trade in the Anti-Terrorist Operation zone, benefiting militant leaders in Donbas, as well as ex-president Viktor Yanukovych`s entourage, according to Ukrainian weekly Novoye Vremia.
Director of the Eastern Human Rights Group, Luhansk-born Pavlo Lysiansky has analyzed the issue of illegal coal shipments from the so-called ”republics” for several months, and concluded that it is in fact a huge market.
According to the report, monthly turnover from illegal coal trade amounts to UAH 400 million. Coal is sold from mines located in the territory of the so-called Donetsk and Luhansk People`s Republics, and is purchased by legal customers from Ukraine.
”The supply chain involves different players and interests – starting from the ”republics`” leaders to representatives of Yanukovych and Co.,” the report reads.
”It turns out that Ukraine sponsors terrorists that are fighting against it,” Lysiansky argues.
Vitaliy Kropachev, ex-deputy of Donetsk Regional Council, who has also closely monitored the illegal coal trade business in the occupied territories, says the number of small illegal mines has increased from a few hundred to about 1,500.
Lysiansky has calculated that Ihor Plotnytsky [LPR leader] must get about UAH 500 from each tonne of coal sold. Taking into account that the LPR produced 150,000 tonnes of coal in February, the LPR leader`s income could reach UAH 75 million monthly.
In the ”DPR,” the so-called coal ministry deals with all issues related to coal and its trade. Oleksandr Zakharchenko, the DPR leader, reportedly owns stakes in every coal mines controlled by the ”ministry.”
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