Polish Briefing: Stolen coal from Donbass still goes to Poland

What goes on in Poland on the 12th of September.

Ambassador of Ukraine: Stolen coal from Donbass still goes to Poland

From a legal point of view, Poland may buy anthracite from Donbas as Russian, because Warsaw has not introduced a ban on importing raw materials from Russia, said Andrii Deshchytsia, the ambassador of Ukraine in Poland to the agency Glavcom.

In his opinion, anthracite from the Russian-occupied Donbas still goes to Poland. According to DGP, the raw material from that region first goes to Russia, from where it is later delivered to Poland. The procedure is dealt with by Doncoaltrade, registered in 2012 in Katowice. Its head is Oleksandr Melnyczuk, who once served as the deputy minister of fuel, energy and coal industry in the Lugansk People’s Republic.

– It seems that this scheme is still functioning. The Polish government is trying to solve the problem on a legal level. Deliveries, however, are implemented in an intricate way. The coal supplied to Poland actually goes from Russia. The Polish side responds to our allegations: How should we determine the origin of this coal? We pay Poland more and more attention to moral aspects, proving that coal stolen from Ukraine goes to Russia and then to Poland. We appeal for moral and ethical reasons, because in legal terms such purchases are possible. There is no ban on the import of coal from Russia – Ambassador Deshchytsia said.

At the beginning of August, the minister of energy Krzysztof Tchórzewski said that the issue of coal supplies from the Donbas occupied by Russia is dealt with by the Polish services. At the same time, he stated that the whole situation is not a threat to Poland’s energy security. He only indicated that individual states must abide by the sanctions imposed and make sure that they are realistically observed.

According to DGP data, between January and May this year, a total of 5,12 million tons of coal went to Poland, or nearly 70 percent of total imports. Over the past 10 years, Poland imported a total of over 73 million tonnes of coal. According to calculations BiznesAlert.pl, last year Poland could pay nearly 1 billion zlotys for the import of Russian coal.