Several dozen Chinese workers in Russia’s Far East staged a protest on November 7 against their employer, Kremlin-controlled oil giant Rosneft.
Roughly 50 workers walked out of their temporary housing in Komsomolsk-on-Amur and walked toward the center of the city, local media reported.
The Chinese workers are helping to repair a Rosneft oil refinery. The workers claim they have not been paid in months and are demanding to be returned to China, local media said.
Rosneft, one of the world’s largest oil companies, rejected those claims.
The company said the employees have been fired for the poor quality of their work, but can not be sent back to China due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The company said that in the meantime it is paying the workers a minimal salary and daily allowance.
Rosneft has been seeking to build business ties with China, one of the largest and fastest growing markets in the world for oil and gas.
