Turkiye buys coal mined in occupied Donbas for six months in a row – Reuters

During six months of 2023, Turkiye purchased coal mined in the occupied territories of Luhansk and Donetsk Regions from the aggressor country, russia.

This was reported by the Reuters agency with reference to several producers involved in the supply of coal.

Russia exported coal mined in the occupied territories to Turkiye from February to July this year. For this, Ankara paid russian companies almost USD 14.5 million.

The coal buyers were companies registered in Hong Kong, the United Arab Emirates, and a number of offshore jurisdictions, including Belize and the British Virgin Islands.

Journalists contacted three suppliers and found out that 160,000 tons of coal mined in occupied Donbas were sent to Turkiye within six months.

The agency noted that the journalists were unable to establish the contacts of coal buyers and final beneficiaries.

Turkiye is a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), whose members of russian propaganda openly calls "unfriendly" countries.

Also, Ankara has repeatedly declared its support for the territorial integrity of Ukraine since the beginning of the full-scale invasion of the russian federation.

At the same time, the country did not introduce sanctions against russia, against which large-scale restrictions were introduced by the West on February 24, 2022.

As the Ukrainian News agency earlier reported, in the spring of 2023, it became known that China had been buying copper ingots produced in the temporarily occupied part of the Donetsk Region from the russian federation for six months.