But according to the mine’s current director Volodymyr Yurkiv, who is still in post, the ‘overseers’ could be using the Russian invasion to make a comeback.
“After the president’s speech [in February 2020], things calmed down for us. There were no smotriashchiye,” Yurkiv told openDemocracy.
“We were able to work in peace, no one was coming from the outside.
“Then the war began, and the so-called smotriashchiye appeared again. I don’t know why.”
Yurkiv says he was given no reason for his demotion to chief engineer and replacement as director, other than that it was “to do with the ‘[ministry’s] vision’.”
Serhiy Petryk, a section chief with 18 years’ experience at Mine No.9, said he too saw no reason for the sudden change in leadership.
“Why should we change director if we have a good director who really works for us, cares about the mine, and if we get a decent salary?” he asked.
On 2 August, a large crowd of employees gathered outside the doors of Mine No.9’s office building, where they used a tractor as a barricade to prevent the new manager, Viktor Herashchenko, and a senior energy ministry official from entering.
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