Russia has persuaded coal producers in Donbas to resume coal shipments to the rest of Ukraine, but they have still not received payment for this coal, Russian President Vladimir Putin said.
Speaking at an annual press conference in Moscow on Dec.18, Putin stressed the need to restore economic ties between the south-eastern part of Ukraine and the rest of the country.
“It is well-known that a significant amount of electric power is generated using Donbas coal, but it’s still not been bought. We were asked to put pressure on south-eastern Ukraine so that the miners agree to ship [coal]. We’ve done so, but they are not buying,” he said.
The reason is that “all banks [in the south-eastern part of Ukraine not controlled by Kyiv] have been shut, and there is no way to pay,” Putin said. “They said just yesterday that they were ready to pay and transferred the down-payment. Then we find out that there has been no down-payment. It’s supposedly been transferred to the miners’ cards, but the cards are not working,” he said.
And similar things are happening everywhere, he said.
