KYIV. UkraineGate . 10 . August . 2022 l World News.
On August 10, the EU embargo on coal imports from Russia came into force. Large losses threaten not only Russian miners, but also railways and seaports in the Baltic and Murmansk, writes Deutsche Welle .
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“Even if this sanctions measure is lifted someday, there will still be no return to the past: during the current decade, most European countries intend to completely abandon the use of the most harmful fossil energy carrier for the global climate in the electric power industry. Therefore, Russian coal miners have finally lost the European market now,” the publication says in an article.
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As noted, such a loss will not force Vladimir Putin to stop the war in Ukraine, the EU understands that the coal embargo is only one of many Western sanctions designed to maximize the price of aggression for Russia.
However, as noted, for several important sectors of the Russian economy and for some regions of Russia, the refusal of Europeans from Russian coal will certainly result in significant losses. “Miners of Kuzbass and other coal regions of the Russian Federation will suffer the most. Such a large Russian employer as the Russian company, for which the transportation of coal is one of the key income items, will also suffer considerable losses,” the article says.
Reportedly, Russian ports in the Baltic, especially in Ust-Luga, as well as the Murmansk transport hub, will suffer, because the concept of its development was largely due to hopes for the growth of coal exports.
“There are currently enough proposals from South Africa, Australia, the United States, Colombia or Indonesia,” Alexander Bethe, chairman of the board of the German Union of Coal Importers, said in an interview with DW.
Bethe notes that from September, demand for coal in Germany, which ceased its own production at the end of 2018, will increase markedly, as as part of emergency measures to save scarce natural gas, coal-fired power plants designed to replace gas ones are now being removed from reserve. However, according to his forecast, supplies will increase by about 11% compared to 2021. Moreover, this surge in demand for coal will be short-lived.
“In other words, in Germany and in the European Union in general, coal has not only long-term, but even medium-term prospects. And even more so in Russian coal,” the article summarizes.
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The EU embargo on Russian coal came into force on August 10.
SOURCE: UKRGATE