Mechel expects compensation for the loss of the Donetsk Electrometallurgical Plant

Russian oligarch Igor Zyuzin has asked the government for several million dollars in compensation for the loss of a steel mill by his firm in eastern Ukraine.

According to the Russian daily Vedomosti, Mechel is also trying to negotiate a huge loan restructuring, as the company says it cannot afford to pay debts to Russia's largest state-owned banks. The refund request relates to the Donetsk Electrometallurgical Plant, bought by Mechel for more than $ 500 million in 2009, but seized by the pro-Russian local authorities of the so-called Donetsk People's Republic in 2016 during a war with Ukrainian government forces in eastern Ukraine. According to the document, this summer Zyuzin asked Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Kozak for compensation in the amount of 18 million rubles ($ 280 million).

The plant previously produced about a million tonnes of steel per year, although production at this plant was suspended in December 2012 due to unfavorable market conditions.