The Russian military-political leadership has made a final decision on the inexpediency of maintaining mines and coal preparation plants in the temporarily occupied parts of Donbass and Lugansk region . Now Moscow is trying to decide exactly when and how to explain this to local residents and avoid a wave of social discontent.
According toChannel 24 sources in the Ukrainian special services, the entire coal mining industry of Donbass has been a real burden for Russia since the occupation of parts of the regions. The invaders, who managed to raise the popularity of separatist riots, including the fable “Bandera will come, close the mines”, were forced to maintain deeply subsidized enterprises for many years.
It is clear that it was extremely unprofitable for the Kremlin to support the activities of coal mining enterprises, but in 2014 the invaders did not count money and generously invested in building up the situation in Ukraine. However, over time, the issue of maintaining the so-called “DNR” and “LNR” became completely unnecessary for the invaders.
The miners were used for propaganda
- Kremlin curators and leaders of terrorist organizations have been happily stealing the lion's share of the funds allocated to support the Donbass by the Russian government for 8 years, but after the decision on a full-scale invasion was made, the flow of money was significantly reduced.
- Putin decided that the inhabitants of the quasi-republic should thank for their maintenance with their lives and began to “tighten the screws” and carry out total mobilization.
- Thus, the invaders carried out a cleansing of the “DPR” and “LPR” would somehow go on strike and rebel against the deprivation of their work. And in parallel with this, people were smoothly preparing for the fact that all enterprises would begin to close en masse due to their unprofitability.
- Since investing billions of rubles in salaries for miners, repairing expensive equipment and pumping water out of mines, provided that Russia does not need coal at all, it made no sense to the Russians. At the same time, there was no longer any propaganda sense in supporting narratives about the “working people of the miners”.
Constantly extolling the profession of miners and glorifying their hard work, propagandists for years created a chauvinistic attitude towards residents of other regions of our state in the minds of the local population. At the same time, people were constantly explained that they allegedly feed Ukraine, which “oppresses them.”
The goal of the Russian elite was to create in the minds of the inhabitants of Donbass the illusion that they were not involved in the Ukrainian people. For the most part, they got through it. At least in 2014, the lion's share of the local residents were sure that after the Revolution of Dignity, Kyiv would close the mines and oppress the Russian language; if the region were separated from Ukraine, life would allegedly improve rapidly.
Since the chanting of the miners has been one of the pillars of propaganda since the times of the USSR, the invaders did not dare to close the mines at the very beginning of the occupation. They continued the agony of the region until the announcement of its annexation. In fact, the Russians used the miners for their propaganda, successfully manipulated them and threw them away as trash as soon as it became possible.
No money for salaries
Talks about the need to close all mines in the temporarily occupied Donbas after the start of the war in the temporarily occupied Donbas have been going on in Moscow since mid-2022. They say that it is necessary to quickly turn the once prosperous region into a scorched earth in case of its de-occupation, but in general it is necessary to transfer all the costs of financing the army.
However, despite the reduction in the allocation of money, Pushilin and the company tried to somehow pay the miners solely because the work of many enterprises served as a cover for theft from the Russian budget. After all, it is very convenient to report to your Moscow owners about the renewal of some equipment located on the horizon of 1 kilometer, no one will check this.
However, one way or another, coal mining enterprises in the Donbass will have to be permanently closed. Apparently, this will be done gradually, but over the next 6 months, not a single mine may remain in the so-called “DPR” and “LPR”. At the same time, it will be impossible to resume work after de-occupation.
The fact that the decision has already been made at the highest level is evidenced by the information conveyed by the managers of the mines to their employees. No matter how the top terrorists tell people about the restoration of Donbass, the construction of water pipelines, raising salaries to the Russian level, all this is a complete lie. So, in December 2022, all miners who had not yet been mobilized were told that it would be quite difficult with wages in the near future. At the same time, Ukraine was traditionally accused of this, that “it does not allow the mines to work normally.”
The real problems began at the end of January, when the miners were directly confronted with the fact that there would be no wages. And even February. But in March, of course, everyone will be paid, only the mines will be closed before that.
For example, in “Kholodnaya Balka” in Makiivka, workers owe considerable sums for last December. They promise to pay this money in February, but in March the mine will stop its work. All mines belonging to the Makeevugol holding are also being shut down. Dismissed but not mobilized miners are promised to be transferred to work in Kalininskaya Vostochnaya.
About the same thing happens at enterprises in other cities of Donbass, but the miners are not told that they will lose their jobs forever, because they are fed with promises find investors from Russia. And then, of course, the money will flow down the river. However, for some reason, there were no people willing to invest billions in subsidized enterprises by default during the 9 years of occupation.
