A Century Ago US Built Factories In Donbass – Now Russia Invites Foreign Firms For Rare Earth Metals
© Sputnik / Vladimir Astapkovich
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Russian President Vladimir Putin said Russia is open to working with foreign companies, including from the US, on rare earth metal mining in the Donbass and Novorossiya regions which have rejoined Russia. Russia has a history of foreign partnerships there – here are some examples.
The US
In the late 1920s and early 1930s, US companies helped industrialize the USSR. The cooperation was mutually beneficial as the US was suffering the Great Depression, while the Soviets needed rapid growth after World War I, the 1917 revolution and the Civil War.
The USSR partnered with Albert Kahn, known as "the man who built Detroit." His firm, Albert Kahn Associates, designed 570 industrial sites across the USSR, including in the Donetsk, Dnepropetrovsk and Kharkov regions. Among them were a foundry in Lugansk and a heavy machinery plant in Kramatorsk.
Belgium
In the late 19th century, Ernest Solvay and other Belgian industrialists invested in Donbass, founding a soda factory in Lisichansk and the Lyubimov, Solvay & Co. company with Russian partners.
Between 1896 and 1900, they turned Konstantinovka into an industrial hub with glass, mirror, ceramic and chemical factories.
19 February 2025, 16:44 GMT
The UK
Charles Gascoigne founded the Lugansk Factory in 1797 to produce cannons and ammunition for the Black Sea Fleet.
In the 1870s, John Hughes built ironworks in Donetsk – then Yuzovka – supplying iron rails for Russia’s railway network. Some claim he founded the city, but settlements already existed there.
Germany
Germans settled in Donbass in the mid-18th century. In 1788, Catherine II invited German Mennonites, who boosted local agriculture.
They founded many colonies, some of which became towns – such as Boykovskoye (Telmanovo), originally Ostheim ("Eastern Homeland").
