REUTERS
According to the publication, mainly lean coal was supplied from Belarus to Ukraine from the Kiyzassky open-pit mine, managed by Russian-based VostokCoal.
The Belarusian news outlet Naviny reported on companies that are behind Russian coal supplies from Belarus to Ukraine, as was earlier reported that Ukraine last year boosted imports of anthracite coal from Belarus, which is not mined there, by hundreds of times.
According to the publication, mainly lean coal originating from the Kiyzassky open-pit mine, managed by businessman Dmitry Bosov's Russian-based VostokCoal, was supplied from Belarus to Ukraine. His fortune, according to Forbes, is estimated at US$950 million. Bosov's coal business partner is his fellow student and Brest native Vladimir Mikulik.
Read alsoBelarus reportedly sells coal from Russian-occupied Donbas to Ukraine – media
Belarusian traders who buy coal in Russia do not exclude that coal mined in Russian-occupied Donbas, the self-proclaimed "Donetsk People's Republic ("DPR") and Luhansk People's Republic ("LPR"), which are controlled by Russian proxy forces, is also delivered together with Russian coal.
In Ukraine, Belarusian coal was purchased by Tehnova (Chernihiv CHPP) and Euro-Reconstruction (Kyiv's Darnytska CHPP). Both companies are part of Ukrteploenergo of ex-Member of Parliament Anatoliy Shkriblyak.
Belarusian coal was also supplied to Podilsky Cement, a cement plant, which is part of the Irish holding CRH, and to Slovyanska thermal power plant, which is owned by Donbasenergo. In 2018, Maksym Yefimov, a MP from the Petro Poroshenko Bloc, bought the company from the son of former president Viktor Yanukovych.
Coal from Belarus was also bought by Ami Trade, which sells coal in the rural area.
According to Ukrainian customs statistics, four Belarusian companies were engaged in coal supply: Gomel Business Alliance LLC (80,260 tonnes) and Trans-Ugol LLC (46,290 tonnes), as well as Ecoil Chemical LLC (27,070 tonnes) from the Polotsk district, and Ecoline Systems LLC (20,110 tonnes) from Minsk.
These are companies with small charter capitals (from 100 to 300 rubles) and they were registered from 2014 to 2018. Business Alliance LLC is wholly owned by Andrey Baido. He also owns a 20% stake in Trans-Ugol LLC, Russian citizen Viktor Podgorny holds the remaining 80%. Ecoil Chemical LLC is wholly owned by Evgeniy Danishevsky. Ecoline Systems LLC is owned by Dmitriy Khvesko and Eduard Bogdanchuk (50% each)
RFE/RL's Belarusian service earlier published an article claiming that Ukraine last year boosted imports of anthracite coal from Belarus, which is not mined there, by hundreds of times.
The publication suggested the coal imported from Belarus was mined in the occupied territories of Ukraine's Donetsk and Luhansk regions.
Ukrainian Energy and Coal Industry Minister Ihor Nasalyk says the coal Ukraine bought from Belarus in 2018 was not mined in Russian-occupied Donbas, the self-proclaimed "Donetsk People's Republic ("DPR") and Luhansk People's Republic ("LPR"), which are controlled by Russian proxy forces.
"This may be re-export [of coal] from Russia. But one thing I can say for sure it is not from [the Russian-puppet] 'DPR' and 'LPR,'" he said.