UKRAINE COAL MINE DISASTER: HOW CORRUPTION KILLS

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 KYIV 003071 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS STATE FOR EUR/UMB AND DRL/ILCSR DOL FOR SMARLER GENEVA FOR JCHAMBERLIN E.O.: 12958: N/A TAGS: EMIN PGOV ELAB EAID UP SUBJECT: UKRAINE COAL MINE DISASTER: HOW CORRUPTION KILLS REFS: A) STATE 159658 B) KYIV 2863 C) YARNELL-MARLER EMAIL OF 11/15/2006 SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED - NOT FOR INTERNET PUBLICATION ¶1. (SBU) Summary: A November 18 explosion at the Zasyadko Coal Mine killed 101 miners in Ukraine's worst coal mine accident since independence. Subsequent explosions killed another five miners and mine rescuers. The Zasyadko mine has one of the country's worst safety records. Its director, Yukhim Zvyahilsky, has run the mine for decades and is an influential MP from the Party of Regions. The GOU has established two commissions to investigate the causes of the accident, but many observers doubt whether an impartial investigation will be possible. The head of the State Labor Safety Committee appears to be struggling in his attempts to ensure a fair inquiry and has called for foreign experts to participate. A U.S. expert is already on the ground to assist investigators. Poor safety practices were likely to blame for the accident, and the political favoritism that has allowed Zvyahilsky to remain in charge of the mine has in this case proved deadly. End Summary. Largest Mine Accident in Ukrainian History -------------- ¶2. (U) A November 18 methane explosion at the Zasyadko Coal Mine in the eastern city of Donetsk killed 101 miners and injured nearly 100 more, marking the single largest loss of life at a Ukrainian coal mine since the country's independence. (Note: The Zasyadko tragedy eclipsed an accident at the Barakova Coal Mine in 2000 that left 81 miners dead. End note.) President Viktor Yushchenko declared a national day of mourning following the accident. The Ambassador used his disaster assistance authority to provide specialized medical equipment to Donetsk hospitals treating injured miners (refs A-B). ¶3. (U) Despite opposition from Ukraine's Independent Trade Union of Miners, which saw eight of its members killed in the November 18 blast, and despite continued high temperatures underground, management decided to restart some operations at the mine on November 21. Two more explosions rocked the mine on December 1 and 2, killing five miners and rescue personnel, and injuring about another 60. After this further loss of life, the mine was �0A;finally shut down (for now) and flooded with water to prevent any further explosions. A Mine with a History -------------- ¶4. (U) Ukraine ranks second in the world after China in terms of the number of coal mine fatalities each year, with over 4,000 fatalities since independence. There had been a steady decline in fatalities year-on-year since 2000, although there was a slight increase to 168 fatalities in 2006, and the Zasyadko accident will push those figures yet higher for 2007. Zasyadko has earned a reputation as being Ukraine's deadliest, with 246 fatalities over the last ten years. Fifty-five miners were killed in a methane explosion at Zasyadko in August 2001, and another 50 in May 1999, respectively marking the fifth and sixth largest Ukrainian coal mine accidents to date. The Man in Charge: Yukhim Zvyahilsky -------------- ¶5. (U) Zasyadko's management structure is unique, as it is the only Ukrainian mine that is state-owned but leased to a private entity. (Note: Of Ukraine's 165 legal coal mines, 140 are state-owned and 25 mines have been privatized. Small illegal coal mines, with poor to non-existent safety standards, also operate. End note.) Seventy-four year-old Yukhim Zvyahilsky has effectively been in charge of the mine since the 1970s, when he rose through the ranks of the local coal mining hierarchy. Zvyahilsky is an influential politician, having served as Deputy Prime Minister and Acting Prime Minister in 1993-1994. He was accused of corruption and misuse of government funds in summer 1994, however, and in November 1994 fled to Israel to avoid prosecution. He returned to Ukraine in 1997 and managed his political rehabilitation, being reelected to Parliament KYIV 00003071 002 OF 003 several times, most recently in September's early parliamentary elections as number 9 on the Party of Region's list. Zvyahilsky continues to serve as the director of Zasyadko. ¶6. (SBU) Post witnessed Zvyahilsky's political influence first-hand back in the fall of 2006, when the U.S. Department of Labor-funded Coal Mine Safety Program was working to provide a specialized drilling machine to the GOU. Although the program implementers and GOU officials had already agreed on a pilot site for the drill, the project stalled when Zvyahilsky personally demanded that the drill go to his mine. High-ranking GOU officials appeared coerced to reverse their initial recommendation and call for the drill to be sent to Zasyadko. Only after the Embassy strongly objected and when Zvyahilsky himself admitted that he wanted the drill for production, not safety, reasons were we able to restart the project in the originally planned mine. Investigation to Determine Accident Causes? -------------- ¶7. (U) The GOU has established two ad-hoc bodies to manage the aftermath of the Zasyadko disaster: a governmental, political-level commission headed by Deputy Prime Minister Andriy Kluyev, and an experts-level commission charged to investigate and report on the causes of the accident. Zvyahilsky immediately argued that the explosion occurred due to "unexplained geological forces," implying that the tragedy was unavoidable. Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych and other allies backed up Zvyahilsky's argument, saying, "This accident has proven once again that a human is powerless before nature." ¶8. (SBU) Many observers fear that the governmental commission will resist an impartial investigation that could lay blame for the accident with mine management. Anatoliy Akimochkin, Chairman of Ukraine's Independent Trade Union of Miners and a respected authority in Donetsk, told Econoff on December 7 that he highly doubted a serious and unbiased investigation could take place. Experts involved in the investigation, said Akimochkin, were afraid to give their real opinion due to fear of repercussions at the hands of the Donetsk political elite. According to Akimochkin, behind Zvyahilsky also stands Rinat Akhmetov, Ukraine's mega-oligarch whose steel and power-generation empire depends on a steady supply of Ukrainian coal, including from Zasyadko, an important source of coking coal for Ukraine's steel industry. Sergey Taruta, Chairman of the Board of the Industrial Union of Donbass, Ukraine's second-largest steel producer, told Emboffs that one leading coal mine expert had already been thrown off the investigatory commission for arguing that the accident resulted from negligence. ¶9. (SBU) On December 7 Econoff asked Serhiy Storchak, Chairman of Ukraine's State Labor Safety Committee, the lead GOU agency in ensuring workplace safety, if he could guarantee that the investigation would be impartial. Storchak essentially ducked the question, saying that, "unlike some mine owners," his committee was only interested in the truth. Storchak also reiterated his strong desire for U.S. and other foreign experts to join the investigation in order to bolster its objectivity. (Note: An expert from the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) arrived in Donetsk on December 13 to aid the investigation. End Note.) Likely Causes -------------- ¶10. (SBU) Although the investigation is still ongoing, most analysts believe that poor safety procedures were primarily to blame for the accident. Zasyadko mine management has pushed production beyond what should be expected at the mine, given its remarkable depth (over 1,000 meters) and high methane concentration. Jerry Triplett, primary implementer of the USG's Coal Mine Safety Program, noted that, while Zasyadko currently drills at four longwalls, state drilling officials would likely drill at only one under such geological conditions. Valeriy Kagalovskiy, Executive Director of the Interstate Euro-Asian Association of Coal and Metals (a CIS body),told Econoff on December 6 that the people at Zasyadko were simply mining "too fast." KYIV 00003071 003 OF 003 Kagalovskiy blamed Zvyahilsky for not being satisfied as a millionaire, and wanting to become a "multi-millionaire." Akimochkin noted that a general problem throughout Ukraine is that miners are paid based on how much coal they mine, creating an incentive for impoverished miners to violate safety rules in order to provide for their families. ¶11. (SBU) In 2006, 13 miners died at Zasyadko due to a methane release that occurred because management did not let a new coal face ventilate sufficiently before mining began, insisting instead that work begin earlier to maximize production. A variety of sources have told us that, in this most recent accident, miners were likely again pushed to continue their work despite high methane concentrations, with methane detection equipment either disabled or ignored by miners desperate to bolster their paltry salaries. In addition, it appears the miners were working without a properly functioning ventilation system. Miners would have used explosive blasting caps to break up large pieces of mined coal, which likely provided the spark for a larger explosion. High amounts of rock dust in the air, which can be reduced by a safety-enhancing technique called rock dusting (not practiced at Zasyadko),then likely magnified the explosion, carrying it through a large portion of the mine and multiplying the number of casualties. Comment: Corruption Kills -------------- ¶12. (SBU) Many Ukrainian mines, and especially Zasyadko, face dangerous geological conditions. Yet good management focused on safety procedures can drastically reduce the chances of major accidents. The neighboring Shcheglovskaya-Glubokaya Mine, for example, which experiences the same geological conditions as Zasyadko, has had a comparatively solid safety record. Labor Safety chief Storchak recently told the public, "At mines where the owner genuinely cares about safety issues, the risk of accidents is minimal." Our impression is that Storchak's agency is interested in an impartial investigation, but may be politically out-gunned. For example, Storchak told Econoff he hoped the United States could "tell us that we need to hold mine management responsible" for such accidents. Although we wait for the official verdict of the investigation, it is difficult to imagine any other conclusion than that the management at Zasyadko is to blame for the mine's horrendous safety record and this latest tragedy. That Zvyahilsky remains in control of the mine, due to his political connections and most probably the revenue he is providing to his superiors, is a tragedy of its own. TAYLOR