The union plans to file notices of work stoppage simultaneously at several mines starting September 18, the same days Russia is scheduled to hold its State Duma elections, according to Aleksandr Vaskovsky, co-chairman of the Independent Miners' Union, who spoke to ASTRA and Post-.
Some workers have gone without pay for three to seven months, according to Vaskovsky and employees at various mines. Another person who spoke to Post- said workers were no longer being issued even certificates documenting the wage arrears.
Mine management promised to make the payments "without fail" by Miners' Day on August 30, and then by September 10. Both deadlines passed without payment. Repayment of the debt has now been pushed back to the start of next year, The Moscow Times reported. Authorities attribute the situation to a lack of financing at the enterprises.
More than ten Donbas mines continue pumping water out of underground workings, maintaining safety and preserving the region's environmental situation, but their employees are paid irregularly, according to Vaskovsky. Miners' wages range from 30,000 to 50,000 rubles, according to Post- and TV Rain.
The workforce at one Donetsk mine is already prepared to stop work, and talks are under way with two others. Vaskovsky is not disclosing the names of the enterprises so that the authorities do not intimidate the miners in advance.
A person who spoke to Post- said workers are afraid to protest: men could, in their view, be forcibly sent to the front, and women dismissed. Two other people who spoke to the outlet said strikes have been banned at the mines altogether "in connection with the SMO" — the Kremlin's term for its war in Ukraine.
Izvestia journalist Dmitry Zimenkin also reported on the miners' wage arrears in the so-called DNR, publishing an anonymous appeal from one worker. "We currently have wage arrears of four to seven months. We are miners, we have already appealed everywhere, and everywhere it is to no avail. The answer is always the same: there is no financing," wrote the mine employee, who works on water drainage.
Another resident of occupied Donetsk described a similar situation involving her husband, who works at the Chaikino mine, controlled by LLC Uglekom. The man tried to obtain a certificate of wage arrears in order to go to court but was refused. According to the woman, the company has been promising since March to pay off the debt, each time postponing the deadline.
Payment problems and layoffs have also affected miners in the occupied part of the Luhansk region. In April, workers at coal enterprises reported mass layoffs caused by the bankruptcy of the owner company and the absence of due payments. In late August it also emerged that more than 1,700 employees of the company Severny Kuzbass in the Kemerovo region have not received wages since October 2025.
The delays come amid a crisis in Russia's coal industry that began with sanctions imposed after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. For 2025, the industry posted a record net loss of 408 billion rubles, after 112.6 billion rubles a year earlier. In the first three months of 2026, the loss amounted to another 88 billion rubles, bringing the cumulative total for 2024-2026 to 608.6 billion rubles.
Vaskovsky said that if the miners do not get scared and instead of election ballots mass-write notices of work stoppage, it will be "a very big political matter with the prospect of further steps." By his estimate, thousands of families are currently living on borrowed money.