In November 2023, representatives of two Chinese companies signed a deal in Moscow to supply stone-crushing machinery for construction projects. The contract was announced by Evgeny Solntsev, prime minister of the self-proclaimed People’s Republic of Donetsk, a Russia-backed separatist entity created in 2014. Photos showed Chinese representatives with separatist officials and flags of China, Russia, and Donetsk. Zhongxin Heavy Industrial Machinery and Amma Construction Machinery supplied equipment to the Karansky quarry in southern Donetsk. The crushed stone was used for construction in Russia-occupied areas of Ukraine, including the Azov Sea port of Mariupol, where buildings were reported to be erected on mass graves from the 2022 siege. Zhongxin did not respond to a comment request, and Amma was difficult to identify and also did not respond.
"In November 2023, representatives of two Chinese companies signed a deal to supply stone-crushing machinery for construction projects. Despite being inked in Moscow, the contract was not made with a sovereign nation. It was announced by Evgeny Solntsev, then the prime minister of the People's Republic of Donetsk, a resource-rich, war-ravaged statelet carved out of southeastern Ukraine by Russia-backed separatists in 2014."
"The post included photos of four Chinese representatives standing next to separatist officials and the flags of China, Russia and the People's Republic of Donetsk. The companies identified as Zhongxin Heavy Industrial Machinery and Amma Construction Machinery supplied equipment to the Karansky quarry in the southern Donetsk region. The crushed stone has been used for construction projects in Russia-occupied areas in Ukraine."
"One of the busiest construction sites is the Azov Sea port of Mariupol, where dozens of buildings are reported to have been erected on top of mass graves of thousands of civilians killed during the city's siege in early 2022. Zhongxin Heavy Industrial Machinery did not reply to Al Jazeera's request for comment. Amma Construction Machinery is harder to identify."
"Its website lists a phone number in the Russian city of Irkutsk in southern Siberia and a link to the website of Bark, a company that specialises in equipment exports. It has not replied to Al Jazeera's request for comment either. Only North Korea and Syria under former President Bashar al-Assad recognised the People's Republic of Donetsk and the neighbouring, smaller People's Republic of Luhansk as independent nations."
Read at www.aljazeera.com
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