Every dollar coal loses sends another shock through Russia’s most fragile industrial artery, one that once powered entire mining towns across Siberia and the Far East.

The Financial Times reports that the sector has now plunged into its deepest crisis in three decades, with losses of $2.8 billion in just seven months — twice as much as all of last year.

Coal is not Russia’s biggest export. It is not oil or gas. It barely makes up 1% of GDP. But it is the lifeblood of over 140,000 workers — and for dozens of regional governments, it is the last standing source of tax revenue.

And that last pillar is crumbling.

According to Russia’s Ministry of Energy, 23 coal companies — about 13% of the total — have already shut down, while another 53 are on the brink of closure. Entire mining towns face extinction-level economic events.

Even Kremlin-aligned executives admit the scale of the disaster. Vladimir Korotin, CEO of Russian Coal, told Interfax that this is “the sharpest crisis since the 1990s.” He is not exaggerating. Mines are closing faster than Moscow can subsidize them.