New Fears in Ukraine's Coal Country

2017/3/30 12:15:48

March 12, 2017 | Donetsk region, Ukraine | Ivan Silver (his nom de guerre), the commander of the blockade at the Kryvyi Torets railway station, stands guard as night falls.

 

Photo: Oksana Parafeniuk for US News and World Report

 


Text by Katherine Jacobsen, US News & World Report Contributor, March 28, 2017

 

AVDIIVKA, Ukraine — In early 2015, Musa Magomedov, the director of the Avdiivka coke and chemical plant in eastern Ukraine, gathered 100 of the facility's shift managers and gave them a choice they could either shutter the billion-dollar business, or continue operations.

 

The bloody conflict in eastern Ukraine between Russian-backed separatists and Ukrainian forces that kicked off in April 2014 was escalating and the plant – about 340 miles southeast of Ukraine's capital of Kyiv – was now on the frontlines of the bloodiest conflict in Europe since the Yugoslav Wars of the 1990s. Rockets regularly buzzed overhead and the boom of heavy artillery was audible through the hisses of the plant's machines.

 

It wasn't fair to ask people to come to work and risk their lives every day if they weren't part of the decision-making process, Magomedov says.

 

Despite the risks, the group decided the factory would operate through the conflict, providing some sense of normalcy, heating, and much-needed income to area residents.

 

Two years later a blockade in eastern Ukraine now threatens the future of the Avdiivka plant and the health of Ukraine's already shaky economy. Activists, with the support of some politicians, initiated the blockade in January with the intention of halting trade between businesses in Ukrainian and separatist-held territories. In mid-March the government in Kyiv joined in, reversing itself and announcing a full transportation blockade of rebel-held areas, a move that shows little sign of abating in the near future.

 

What am I supposed to tell these guys after they've been through so much 'Sorry, but politics are more important than your pay' Magomedov says in frustration.

 

The stakes are high for Avdiivka, the surrounding Donbas region and for Ukraine. Economic uncertainty from the halt in trade has prompted the International Monetary Fund to delay delivery of the next installment of its aid package to Ukraine. Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman estimates that Ukraine will lose 75,000 jobs and at least $3.5 billion in foreign-exchange earnings by year's end. The country's central bank estimates economic growth could be halved if the blockade does not lift, according to Reuters.

 

Avdiivka's population has shrunk from 35,000 to an estimated 16,000 during the course of the 3-year-long conflict. Magomedov says prospective town shop owners first call him before opening a shop, seeking assurances that wages will be paid on time. (During the course of a 30-minute interview, he receives three phone calls. One from the city's mayor checking up on the factory.)

 

Magomedov says 200 of the factory's 4,000 employees have been taken off their regular 12-hour shifts – a similar move was made during the height of fighting in 2014 and 15. Some busy themselves with repairs to the factory, while others are reading manuals during the day to stay busy. They receive 66 percent of their monthly salary of $223. The factory director worries that if the blockade continues another 800 workers will also be taken off their shifts in April.

 

For complete article text and access to a gallery of photos that bring the situation in Ukraine’s coal country into sharp focus, link below:

https://www.usnews.com/news/best-count ... en-ukraines-frail-economy

 

 

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