Before going down into the coal mine, the Prime Minister, together with Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich, Transport Minister Maxim Sokolov and Energy Minister Alexander Novak, were given some mandatory training and put on the appropriate miner's outfit, which apart from specialist clothing included a hard hat, a torch and individual life-saving equipment.

When he reached the mine shaft, the Prime Minister sat down in the lift and descended to the coal face. There at a depth of 150 metres the Prime Minister was shown how the coal mine was constructed, how the coal seam is developed and what kind of safety equipment is used to ensure the safety of the miners.

After seeing how a special cutting and loading machine extracts the coal, the Prime Minister answered miners' questions. The workers asked the Prime Minister to reintroduce eight-hour shifts, because when the shifts were reduced to six hours in the 1970s working conditions were much harder.

Dmitry Medvedev said that "we can make a definite decision on that at the level of the Ministry of Labour and within collective agreements." "I have heard your request and we will definitely be putting this question to the Ministry of Healthcare," he promised.

The visit to the Listvyazhnaya coal mine lasted about one hour.

"The working conditions in this coal mine are good, it is a modern mine, but the work of the miners is of course very hard," the Prime Minister said about his visit to the coal mine.