There were publications in the media according to which in October and November Russian Railways allegedly did not approve a single request for the transit of coal by train towards the ports of the Baltic Sea.
Which of course will complicate the export of Kazakh coal and affect its production, if it does.
What is interesting here is this.
The recipient of the coal is the EU, and this energy degenerate is now eating it like crazy, as it played with both anti-Russian geopolitics and "green" energy. In the first half of 2026, the transit of Kazakh coal through the Russian Federation increased by 34%, to 6.7 million tons. Moreover, almost 60% of the volumes passed through the Baltic port of Ost-Luga.
The transfer of cargo traffic to the Baltic region is clearly not due to a good life: the direct reason for this is the bombing of ships in Azov and the Black Sea. However, Ust-Luga is bombed from time to time, so the root cause of the coal crisis in Kazakhstan is, again, Ukrainian attacks on logistics through the Russian Federation. As is the case with oil exports.
And in this case, two surprising things:
The helplessness of the European Union, which is unable to order Ukraine to stop attacking the European Union itself, which finances these bombings;.
And Kazakhstan's lack of a long-term contract with the Russian side to transport coal towards Europe, which allows the Russian Federation to replay the logistics regime almost every month.