Part of the coal that is exported from the occupied territories of Donbass to Russia, returns to Ukraine under the guise of South African. This is stated in LIGA.net investigation.
It is noted that the delivery of anthracite to Russia from the occupied Donbass has long been a profitable business. The extracted coal is enriched in Donetsk and Luhansk factories and is transported through the border, not controlled by the Ukrainian authorities.
The fuel is exported to European and African countries.
The media refers to the data of Russian Railways and reports that in 2016, 940 000 tons of anthracite and about 95 000 tons of other types of coal were exported from the occupied Donbass to Russia. "These are only those volumes that were officially included in the statistics of rail transportation", - the article says.
The media explains that the export of coal takes place according to a certain scheme. Russian state bodies register that as an import from Ukraine. At the same time, suppliers, established by the so-called "authorities of the republics", are registered as “Ukrainian companies”. Recipients of coal products in Russia re-register illegal coal and export it from Russian ports or supply it to a power plant in the south of Russia owned by Gazprom. And then part of the fuel taken out of Donbass returns to Ukraine under the guise of South African.
At the end of 2016, the Moscow company Petroleum Capital took out the largest volumes of coal from the occupied Donbass. According to Russian Railways, in 2016 this company exported 375 000 tons of anthracite mined in the occupied territories. This is 40% of the total volume of illegal supplies of anthracite over the past year. Top manager of a large Russian coal trader says that the ultimate beneficiary of Petroleum Capital is Ukrainian businessman Serhiy Kurchenko. Indirectly, this is confirmed by open sources. By his decree, President Petro Poroshenko imposed sanctions against this company for a period of three years.