Employees of the coal company “Severny Kuzbass” in Berezovsky, Kemerovo Region, have sent a collective appeal to the trade union and regional media: they have not been paid since October 2025. ASTRA has copies of the appeal. There are 57 signatures under it. The miners write that many colleagues were afraid to sign the letter due to the threat of dismissal.
The authors write that they are speaking on behalf of the entire enterprise, not just individual departments. According to them, since October 2025, salaries and other payments have not been made “systematically,” and many employees have not received any money for almost a year. According to their calculations, the total debt exceeds 317 million rubles.
“Despite the initiation of a criminal case, the debt has not been repaid. As a result, we and our families are in an extremely difficult financial situation,” the appeal states.
Miners are demanding that the debts owed to all employees, including former ones, be repaid immediately, that wages be paid on time, and that those responsible be punished.
On October 9, the Kemerovo Region Prosecutor’s Office approved the indictment in the case against the company’s CEO, Stanislav Lupiy. According to the investigation, in October and November of last year, he failed to pay more than 150 million rubles to 1,115 employees, even though there was money in the accounts. The debt was partially repaid, by 119 million rubles, according to the publication.
Estimates of the total debt vary. According to the publication “Vet”, by autumn it had approached 600 million rubles. The company has been unprofitable since 2023, and in 2025 its expenses exceeded its revenues by 5 billion rubles.
“Severny Kuzbass” unites the Berezovskaya and Pervomayskaya mines and the Severnaya processing plant. Wage arrears began to accumulate in the autumn of 2025. Governor Ilya Seredyuk promised to resolve the problem at the time, and in December the Investigative Committee opened a criminal case. In February 2026, the enterprise was visited by the region’s Minister of Coal Industry, Andrei Brizhak. At the end of August, the miners recorded a video message to the candidates in the regional elections.
