MOSCOW, August 22. /TASS/. Coal deliveries from the US will not influence Russian exports of this fuel to Ukraine, Deputy Energy Minister Anatoly Yanovsky told reporters on Tuesday.

"I do not think it will be significant because of a simple reason: we are supplying coking coal to Ukraine. We essentially have never supplied steam coal to them from Russia," the senior official said.

No restrictions are in place on coal supplies from Russia to Ukraine, Yanovsky noted. Annual exports are about 10 mln tonnes, the official pointed out.

Kiev has to substitute steam coal deliveries from the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics with supplies from other countries, he added.

It was reported earlier that Ukraine is looking for alternative sources of coal supplies. The coal delivery issue took a turn for the worse after January 25, when radicals staged a blockade of Donbass and halted imports of any goods from the republic, including coal.

Ukraine’s Centrenergo company earlier signed a supply contract with US-based Xcoal Energy & Resources for deliveries of 700,000 tonnes of steam coal. The first vessel with coal from the United States amounting to 85,000 tonnes is expected to arrive at Ukraine in early September.