Russia stole over 400,000 tons of Ukrainian grain: journalists conducted an investigation
Over the past year and a half, Russians have exported over 400,000 tons of Ukrainian grain and other agricultural products by sea from Berdyansk. The Danish company Baltic Control is helping to circumvent the ban on trade in grain illegally exported from Ukraine.
Journalists from KibOrg and NGL.media gained access to internal documents of the Berdyansk port and verified about 20 vessels involved in the illegal export of grain, as well as identified people who implemented this scheme – some of them still remain citizens of Ukraine. According to the journalists, the Russians have exported over 400,000 tons of Ukrainian grain and other agricultural products by sea from Berdyansk, the estimated value of which could reach about 4 billion hryvnias over the past year and a half.
Occupied by the Russians in March 2022, the Berdyansk port has become one of the important links in the system of illegal trade in Ukrainian grain.
To falsify the origin of the grain, it is already registered as Russian in the ports of Temryuk and Kavkaz, located in the Krasnodar Territory,
– the investigators explained.
After that, the Russians export this grain to Turkey, Egypt, Libya, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Syria and Bangladesh. Thus, they have managed to legalize more than 400 thousand tons of stolen Ukrainian grain on the international market.
In turn, the Danish company Baltic Control helps to circumvent the ban on trade in grain illegally exported from Ukraine.
Journalists managed to gain access to documents on ship calls to the Berdyansk port during 2024-2025 and verify 20 vessels that made a total of 85 voyages. Among the countries to which grain was exported, at least according to documents, are Turkey, Egypt, Libya, Lebanon, Syria, Saudi Arabia and Bangladesh.
The same documents indicate that the total amount of agricultural products exported by the occupiers from the port of Berdyansk during this time reaches over 420.6 thousand tons.
The main logistics operator of the Berdyansk port is the company “Crystal-2019”, founded six years ago in Simferopol. 70% of the company belongs to a native of Kyiv, Olena Poleva, who received a Russian passport there after the occupation of Crimea.
Journalists managed to identify the identities of 34 captains of ships who illegally exported products from the occupied port. Seven of them still have Ukrainian citizenship. Most of the captains are non-public people, however, the information that was collected indicates that some of them have already had troubles in their professional activities, in particular due to their connection with the occupiers.