MOSCOW, October 10. /TASS/. Russia is going to shift its coal mining hubs from the west of Russia to the east, Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak wrote in an article for the Energy Policy magazine. The country intends to start developing coal deposits in Yakutia and Taimyr, he specified.

"It is planned to shift the centers of coal production to the east of the country, while simultaneously maximizing and effectively using the potential of the leading basins of Russia - Kuzbass, Gorlovsky and Kansko-Achinsky. It is also planned to develop new deposits of coking coal in the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), anthracites and coking coal on the Taimyr Peninsula in Arctic zone of the Russian Federation," he wrote.

The Deputy Prime Minister added that Russia will also continue transferring payments for coal into national currencies.

"Such mechanisms have already been envisaged when paying for coal supplies with China, India and other countries," Novak said.

According to him, the government is also working on a program to finance the purchase of Russian equipment for the coal industry with a preferential rate of 3-5% per annum for 5 years.

"Also, in the near future, we need to solve a complex logistical problem to ensure supplies from abroad of the equipment, which is not produced in Russia and the production of which cannot be established [in Russia] in the near future," he stressed.