This footage, however, was shot in March 2019, and thus the train had likely already made at least one return trip to Russia by the time it was recorded at Uspenskaya again. Most train cars recorded at this specific mine were marked as belonging to the Russian Railroads or Federal Cargo Company. The wagon in the above image, for example, was marked РЖД — Russian Railroads.

All of these coal shipments from the Donbas region to Russia are carried out by a single company, Center for Efficient Logistics Solutions (CELR). Inforpost’s investigation linked this company to Sergey Kurchenko, a Ukrainian oligarch residing in Russia who now owns large parts of industry in occupied Donbas under the umbrella of a company called Vneshtorgservis.

Miners at Torezanthracite, like miners across separatist-held Donbas (and Ukraine at large, until recently), live in poverty due to being denied wages.

Image showing a pay stub made out to a Torezanthracite worker for the sum of presumably ₽ 4823.76 RUB (approximately $ 78.36 USD). (Source: Донецк без глянца/archive)

One anonymous post on Facebook from November 19 presented what appeared to be a pay stub issued by the Torezanthracite mine Shakhtyorskaya-Glubokaya for the month of October. The stub showed a payment of presumably just under ₽ 5,000 RUB, as no currency was indicated, which would equate to just under a hundred U.S. dollars. The minimum wage in Ukraine is ₴ 4,173 UAH a month, or about $171 USD. The DFRLab was unable to verify the pay stub, but claims like these are widespread across Donbas miner groups both on Facebook and VKontakte and go virtually uncontested.

Since “DNR” forces control of Torezanthracite, it is technically under the purview of “DNR head” Pushilin and his “Minister of Coal and Energy” to see to it that the miners receive their pay. Despite repeated pleas, wages are still not paid in full. In government-controlled Ukraine, miners could strike in protest, as they did recently to positive effect, but in the “DNR,” locals fear crackdowns from separatist security forces — in particular the MGB (Ministry of State Security). In 2018, reports came out of an MGB crackdown in the neighboring so-called “Luhansk People’s Republic” (“LNR”) against miners organizing strike. Now, anonymous reports of similar crackdowns are coming out of Donetsk, although they have yet to be verified.

The buyers of this coal include Russian, European, and, reportedly, Ukrainian companies, once the origin of the coal has been sufficiently obscured.

Conclusion

Russian-backed separatist forces in eastern Ukraine have created conditions that allow Russian companies to extract the region’s vast natural resources at a discount, at the detriment of local workers and their families. Due to the totalitarian nature of the separatist power structures, they receive little pushback.

In addition to the human toll, Ukraine’s national economy also suffers from this exploitation scheme, as exports from this region could serve as a significant source of tax revenue for the country. While there are many actors complicit in this scheme, special attention should be paid to CELR, the logistics company in charge of moving all this coal, and the Russian railways, which help mask the transit of train cars between Russia and occupied Ukraine.