Schemes, the investigative arm of RFE/RL’s Ukraine Service, and its companions discovered that Russian corporations exported tens of 1000’s of tons of wheat and peas from occupied territories of Ukraine in 2023 to EU member Spain and NATO allies Turkey and Azerbaijan.
An investigation based mostly on official Russian paperwork and different sources decided that the identical quantities of barley and corn had been additionally delivered to Moscow’s allies Iran and Syria, which have a historical past of shopping for stolen Ukrainian grain from Russia, in accordance with Schemes, a Ukrainian hacker group from KibOrg, the Belarusian Research Center and the unbiased Russian-language media outlet Vyortska.
According to satellite tv for pc estimates from NASA’s Harvest program, which tracks meals safety threats, a minimum of 6.4 million tons of wheat alone can be harvested from Russian-occupied Crimea and Russian-controlled components of Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk, and Zaporizhia areas in 2023. SeeKrim, a Ukrainian non-governmental challenge that tracks unlawful Russian grain shipments from Ukraine, experiences that 2 million tons of that harvest was shipped abroad from Crimean ports.
These gross sales weaken Ukraine’s war-torn financial system and supply Russia with the income it must fund a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, now in its third 12 months.
In 2023, Schemes and its companions recorded gross sales of round 35,000 tons of wheat, barley, corn and peas from the Kherson area and Crimea to Russia at discounted tariffs.
Hacked paperwork from the Kherson occupation authorities, leaked Russian customs information, and knowledge from the net commerce database Import Genius confirmed that a minimum of 4 Russian corporations had been concerned in these transactions: Agro Fregat, Parada, Simtrans Group, and TD Fregat.
One of those corporations, Parada, has shut ties with the final contractor constructing an enormous housing complicated on Russia’s Black Sea coast often called “Putin’s Palace.”
According to paperwork from Russian customs and occupation authorities, the merchandise didn’t originate in Russia however got here from the Kherson area or Crimea, however it’s unclear whether or not consumers ever questioned the origin of their purchases; none of them agreed to debate the matter.
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Kherson Region, a part of Ukraine’s breadbasket, boasted a report harvest of three.1 million tons of grain in 2021. The bumper harvest attracted Russian corporations after Russian forces occupied components of the southern area in 2022.
Satellite information from 2022 confirmed vehicles heading to Crimea from Kherson and the neighboring Zaporizhia area, which can also be partially occupied by Russia, for shipments abroad.
According to Russian customs information and contracts with the occupation regime, in 2023 Russian corporations exported an estimated 6.2 million euros ($6.7 million) price of agricultural merchandise from the Kherson area at decreased or no tariff charges to Russia.
Volodymyr Sardo, the highest occupying official within the Russian-occupied territories and former mayor of town of Kherson, has the facility to approve or veto the committee’s selections to grant such reductions.
About a dozen Russian corporations have utilized for particular charges in 2023.
The Commission’s resolution enabled Schemes and its companions to trace down unlawful gross sales of Kherson agricultural merchandise overseas by Russian corporations.
european union
Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the European Union has banned 91.2 million euros ($97.6 million) price of Russian imports however has averted banning commerce in meals and well being merchandise between Russia and the EU “to keep away from harming Russian residents,” an EU spokesperson mentioned.
A grain freight automotive bearing the identify of the Russian firm Agro-Fregat, within the port of Feodosia, Crimea, in June 2023.
The unbiased media outlet Project recognized Filipovic’s firm, Velestroi, as the final contractor for the development of the “Putin Palace.”
It is unclear to what extent Mr. Filipovic was concerned with Mr. Parada.
According to Russia’s enterprise registry workplace SBIS, the corporate’s largest shareholder is Sergey Kuznetsov, 47, from Moscow.
Kuznetsov didn’t reply to Viorstka’s questions by way of Telegram on May 31 about whether or not he was Parada’s nominal proprietor on behalf of Megapolis Invest and Filipovich.
Another Russian exporter, Moscow-based TD Fregat, additionally declined to remark. In May 2023, the corporate obtained a tariff low cost on 3,000 tons of Kherson corn as a part of an 8,000-ton export from Crimea to the Syrian port of Latakia.
TD Fregat, which says it “specializes within the complicated operations of the grain trade”, didn’t reply to requests for additional particulars.
By Elizabeth Owen
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