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. “I’m confident that the potential of our cooperation is huge, and we’re only beginning to implement it,” Solntsev wrote on his Telegram channel. 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.