OREANDA-NEWS  Russian President Vladimir Putin last week approved the government's proposed measures to support the coal industry. This is reported by Vedomosti, citing sources familiar with the preparation of the initiative.

The letter from Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak says that in 2024, Russian coal miners suffered a loss of 112.6 billion rubles, and now 30 enterprises are already at risk.

The official attributed the need for a plan to save them and get companies out of the crisis to international sanctions, lower world prices and rising discounts on Russian coal, import duties on supplies to China and India, higher logistics costs and more complex international fuel payments.

The proposals submitted to Putin included granting coal companies a discount of 12.8 percent from May 1 to December 31, 2025 for coal transportation by rail to western and southern ports and the resumption of lowering coefficients to transportation tariffs. To compensate for the shortfall in income of railway workers, Novak proposed allocating a subsidy from the federal budget to Russian Railways.