The recent arrest in Belarus of Vladislav Baumgertner, the general director of Russia's Uralkali potash-producing giant, not only raised tensions between Minsk and Moscow. It also focused attention on the important commodity, a potassium-based salt which is used mostly to make fertilizer. Uralkali is the world's largest potash-producing company, ahead of Canadian and U.S. competitors. Baumgertner's announcement in July that Uralkali was leaving a joint venture with the Belarusian firm Belaruskali led to a steep drop in the commodity's price and hurt the Belarusian economy. RFE/RL gathered photos of Uralkali's mining efforts in Russia's Perm region to illustrate the massive scale of the work involved in potash production.
Russia's Uralkali Potash Mine
![Employees work inside a Uralkali potash mine near the city of Berezniki in the Perm region, close to the Ural Mountains.](https://gdb.rferl.org/4be6d911-be6c-4b99-b7d3-32188264ebf3_w1024_q10_s.jpg)
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Employees work inside a Uralkali potash mine near the city of Berezniki in the Perm region, close to the Ural Mountains.
![An aerial view of a Uralkali potash mine near Berezniki. The Uralkali company has a market value of some $14 billion.](https://gdb.rferl.org/2da308e4-e6c6-41b4-a3d8-b97c6a72b457_w1024_q10_s.jpg)
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An aerial view of a Uralkali potash mine near Berezniki. The Uralkali company has a market value of some $14 billion.
![Employees at work in a Uralkali potash mine. The mineral is used mainly in fertilizer production, and is one of the three most widely-used fertilizers worldwide.](https://gdb.rferl.org/7d7654c4-a2b4-4dcf-ba4c-63df4b601ada_w1024_q10_s.jpg)
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Employees at work in a Uralkali potash mine. The mineral is used mainly in fertilizer production, and is one of the three most widely-used fertilizers worldwide.
![An employee checks an underground store of potassium salts at a Uralkali potash mine. The company's mines draw on the Verkhnakamskoe deposit in the Ural Mountains, one of the largest deposits in the world.](https://gdb.rferl.org/6fb30ef9-d945-4b99-a929-8ed19fee304e_w1024_q10_s.jpg)
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An employee checks an underground store of potassium salts at a Uralkali potash mine. The company's mines draw on the Verkhnakamskoe deposit in the Ural Mountains, one of the largest deposits in the world.
![A miner operates machinery in a potassium mine.](https://gdb.rferl.org/fe9e96f5-2dd3-4a1e-9b9a-e3645faae75d_w1024_q10_s.jpg)
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A miner operates machinery in a potassium mine.
![Unprocessed potassium salts in a Uralkali potash mine](https://gdb.rferl.org/6d5ebe87-ae76-4219-a17d-bcfe6244e266_w1024_q10_s.jpg)
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Unprocessed potassium salts in a Uralkali potash mine
![](https://gdb.rferl.org/1044090e-589a-48eb-8e47-b8bd0b404e37_w1024_q10_s.jpg)
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![](https://gdb.rferl.org/f86528ee-7352-4c47-b3f9-5ecdad9f40fd_w1024_q10_s.jpg)
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![](https://gdb.rferl.org/0917826c-1288-4b35-a04b-1bf274bf2bf0_w1024_q10_s.jpg)
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![An employee holds processed potassium salts at a Uralkali potash mine.](https://gdb.rferl.org/15e38e75-4644-4e9d-b412-9076b36c43f0_w1024_q10_s.jpg)
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An employee holds processed potassium salts at a Uralkali potash mine.
![An employee at an above ground pile of processed potassium salts at a Uralkali potash mine.](https://gdb.rferl.org/e8243ad2-ad8b-4d7a-97ac-31336246399b_w1024_q10_s.jpg)
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An employee at an above ground pile of processed potassium salts at a Uralkali potash mine.
![Processed potassium salts from a Uralkali potash mine are loaded at a port in the town of Solikamsk near the Ural Mountains.](https://gdb.rferl.org/295ebec3-01b3-48a3-9f25-29f3218f8dcf_w1024_q10_s.jpg)
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Processed potassium salts from a Uralkali potash mine are loaded at a port in the town of Solikamsk near the Ural Mountains.
![Waste from a potash mine is loaded at a port in Solikamsk in Russia's Perm region.](https://gdb.rferl.org/b5325655-d36f-47e4-971f-c988598b27c1_w1024_q10_s.jpg)
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Waste from a potash mine is loaded at a port in Solikamsk in Russia's Perm region.
![Waste from a potash mine creates a mini mountain near the Russian town of Solikamsk.](https://gdb.rferl.org/f9f61c3d-91ff-462b-a8c6-bf00f859ed36_w1024_q10_s.jpg)
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Waste from a potash mine creates a mini mountain near the Russian town of Solikamsk.