Donbas agreed to sell coal to Kiev

Russian President Vladimir Putin said he is convinced that economic ties should be restored between the southeast and Kiev as Ukraine relies on coal produced in Donbas.

“We are absolutely against the economic blockade, economic ties need to be restored,” Putin said during an annual press conference on Thursday, stressing that the current situation over Donbas coal supplies is absurd.

“A significant part of Ukraine’s energy sector works on Donbas coal, and we have been asked to exert pressure on Donbas, so that the miners agree to supply it, and we have done this, but still they do not buy it,” he said.

The reason is that all the banks have been closed in Ukraine’s south-east, Putin said.

Earlier this week, Ukrainian partners said they were ready to pay and transferred the prepayment, but the miners in Donbas failed to receive cash as their cards do not work. “And the same is in every issue,” he added.

Read the article online at: https://www.worldcoal.com/coal/18122014/donbas-agreed-sell-coal-kiev/