Tragedy in Mezhdurechensk

twenty years ago, hundreds of thousands of disgruntled Russian coal miners became a political force that contributed to perestroika-era reforms. On May 8 and 9 of this year, Russia’s largest mine, Raspadskaya, was the site of a deadly blast that killed 67, causing many to wonder if anything has been accomplished over the last two decades.

All news of the disaster in Mezhdurechensk was drowned out by coverage of Victory Day celebrations in local and regional media. Then a national television report highlighted miners’ high salaries, alleging that workers knew the risks they faced. Mezhdurechensk erupted: 3000 protesters descended on the main square of this town in the Kemerovo region, protesting low pay and inadequate safety precautions.

Miners told journalists that they often have to “fix” methane detectors to keep them from going off. The methane concentrations are very high in Raspadskaya due to the type of coal being mined. And when detectors go off, the miners said, work cannot continue. The miners’ solution: taping over the sensors.

Raspadskaya miners’ salaries (R20-30,000 per month) depend not on how much time they spend underground, but on the amount of coal they extract. And there is almost no place to work in this town of 100,000 except at Raspadskaya, which employs 4,500.

The mine is part-owned by Evraz Group, which is, in turn, partially controlled by billionaire Roman Abramovich. While mine owners have yet to face any charges, the former director of the mine, who had been on the job seven years, is accused of violating safety rules and has been restricted from leaving Russia.

The Raspadskaya miners’ complaints are not unique for the industry, or for Russia. In fact, it was in Mezhdurechensk that miners first protested in July 1989, leading to a cascade of strikes that eventually encompassed 600,000 in the Kuznetsk, Donetsk, and Karaganda basins. Those strikes were set off by the rather mundane problem of the absence of soap in miners’ showers.

Perhaps due to these not so distant memories, authorities cracked down on all forms of protest in Mezhdurechensk, calling some protestors “unemployed provocateurs.” OMON troops were used to violently disperse protestors blocking the railway in Mezhdurechensk in mid-May. And security services forced one activist to disclose the password to a vkontakte.ru social networking group where people were venting their frustrations and attempting to organize more constructively.

When activists announced that they would hold another rally, local authorities refused to sanction it, hastily organizing childrens’ sports competitions on the main square. “People were planning to come to the protest, but got scared,” one miner told gazeta.ru the day of the failed rally.

Meanwhile, restoring the mine to working condition may cost upwards of R11 billion and take at least a year, according to the Ministry of Energy. The government has ordered inspections on all of Russia’s mines.

To make matters worse, on June 2, an explosion in another Evraz-owned mine killed one person and wounded one more.

At press time, 23 of the Raspadskaya miners were still missing.