- September 16, 2024
- 3:10 pm
- Middle East
Ukraine applies diplomatic pressure on importing countries, and this has been achieved with some success.
Over the past two years, Egypt, Israel and Lebanon have either cancelled shipments or stopped buying grain cargo after Ukrainian diplomats told them it was stolen Ukrainian grain and that it was from Russian-occupied parts of Ukraine, Ukrainian officials report, the publication's journalists write. The Wall Street Journal September 16, 2024.
The Wall Street Journal reveals the Kremlin's scheme to sell stolen Ukrainian grain. Russia trades the grain to its allies and friends, making a significant profit.
Since 2022, the Kremlin has managed to sell stolen grain worth $1 billion.
The grain is exported through a company linked to Iran's Revolutionary Guard and a Crimean businessman with trade links to Syria and Israel. The exact amounts earned from the stolen grain are difficult to determine.
Deputy Minister of Agriculture of Ukraine, Markiyan Dmitrasevich, reported that since 2022, the Kremlin has exported about 4 million tons of grain from Ukraine. The main export is carried out by land and small vessels.
According to the Ukrainian organization Texty, Russia has sold products from Ukraine worth $6.4 billion. The occupiers force Ukrainian farmers to sell grain at reduced prices or take it away under threat of arms.
Since 2024, Russia has sent 15 ships with grain from Mariupol to Turkey, with a total volume of up to 81 thousand tons. Despite Turkey's official ban on its ships entering occupied Ukrainian ports, in June, prosecutor Igor Ponochovny said that the Turkish ship Usko MFU visited Sevastopol and loaded grain. In July, Ukrainian border guards arrested the ship, finding out that in November 2023 it transported 2,100 tons of wheat and sunflower seeds from Sevastopol.
Kyiv constantly calls on the world community to avoid trade in stolen Ukrainian grain. Egypt, Israel and Lebanon recently cancelled grain purchases from Russia.
However, Iran and Syria continue to support Russia. It is known that Iran buys barley from Crimea at a price 34% lower than the market price.
Since 2024, Russia has been selling stolen grain to Yemen, and in June, the ship Zafar delivered grain to the port of As-Salif. According to NDR investigators, in 2022, the Kremlin removed 1.8 million tons of grain from the occupied territories of Ukraine.
