The blockade of Donbass helped Russia increase coal exports
Ukraine’s refusal from anthracite coal mined in the Donbass and the start of importing anthracite from South Africa and the United States led to the replacement of coal purchased by Ukraine with Russian coal on the world market.
Valentin Zemlyansky, director of energy programs at the Center for World Economy and International Relations of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, stated this at a press conference in Kyiv, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
“We have significantly reshaped the global coal market. If we talk about anthracite coal, which was mined in the Donbass, then there is little of it in the world. I must upset our patriots, who so actively rejoiced at the blockade of Donbass: the largest producer of anthracite coal is Russia. Neither Australia, nor the USA nor South Africa even together reach the volumes produced in Russia,” the expert noted.
He added that coal from Pennsylvania, South Africa or Australia was mined for specific consumers in the Asia-Pacific region.
“Thanks to what happened in our country, thanks to the fact that we became importers of anthracite, we allowed Russia to increase the volume of anthracite production. There was an increase in production and exports over the past year. That is, in fact, all the volumes that Ukraine took from the anthracite market last year were replaced from Russia. All this resembles the reverse of Russian gas, which we buy in Europe, but in fact it is Russian gas. In the same way, anthracite coal seems to be American and South African coal, but in fact it is the same Russian coal,” Zemlyansky emphasized.
It is noteworthy that Poland has become a transshipment base for coal, mined in the LDPR and sent to Europe in batches worth millions of dollars.
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