Miners at the Pervomaiskaya and Berezovskaya mines in the Kemerovo region have recorded a video address to State Duma candidates, demanding they secure payment of wage arrears from the company Severny Kuzbass. The video was published by Sibirsky Express and also sent to the newsroom of 7x7.
In the address, filmed at the monument "Memory to Kuzbass Miners," the miners said that Governor Ilya Seredyuk promised in September 2025 to resolve the issue by the end of the month, but the debt remains unpaid, including to former employees. "We are patient people. But Kuzbass well remembers what silence and non-payment to miners led to. Miners have always achieved their rights. And if necessary, they will achieve them now," the address says.
The miners specifically called on candidate Dmitry Tuleyev, son of former Kuzbass governor Aman Tuleyev, to intervene. According to a 7x7 source, the wife of one miner, the workers want candidates to publicly take up the issue and make contact with the miners, "and not just perform in front of their own stooges in the office."
According to an investigation by the outlet Koroche, Kuzbass, confirmed wage, vacation, and severance arrears to 1,106 current and former workers have reached nearly 582 million rubles. Officially, the debt exceeds 256 million rubles. Meanwhile, in 2023–2025, the company's top managers, including its head Stanislav Lupy, received more than 400 million rubles in bonuses. In August, a court seized Lupy's property worth 300 million rubles, and he became a defendant in a criminal case on non-payment of wages.
Severny Kuzbass also owns a processing plant and service and transport enterprises. Lupy was elected to the council of deputies of the Kemerovo municipal district on the United Russia party list. Governor Seredyuk said on August 24 that 80% of the region's coal enterprises are operating at a loss, 18 enterprises have closed, and coal production has fallen to 2011 levels. He cited sanctions, sales problems, rising costs, and increased railway tariffs as causes of the crisis.