Russian occupiers admit taking wheat from Ukrainian region of Kherson to Russian Federation
DANA HORDIYCHUK, Ekonomichna Pravda - MONDAY, 30 MAY 2022, 13:05
The Russian occupational government of Kherson Oblast announced that the process of exporting wheat from the region to the Russian Federation has begun.
This is reported by Russian propaganda media outlet RBK referencing the collaborator Kiril Stremousov, appointed by Russian occupiers as the deputy head of Kherson Oblast.
This information refers to the past crop of wheat that has been in storage in Kherson Oblast.
Stremousov speaks about the start of harvesting winter grains from 20 June, which will also be exported to Russia. "We have a place for storing [the new crop], however, of course, a lot of grain is here" – he said. Russian occupiers claim that the grain is allegedly being sold to Russia. As the Ekonomichna Pravda reported earlier, Russian occupiers are blackmailing Ukrainian farmers, buying their produce for peanuts and robbing grain reserves.
In addition, according to Stremousov, Russian occupiers plan to export sunflower seeds for oil production to local and Russian plants.
Background:
The Ministry of Agrarian Policy reports that Russian occupiers have stolen about 500,000 tons of wheat - one third of the amount stored in the occupied territories.
For a long time now, reports of theft of Ukrainian grain have been coming from all temporarily occupied regions. For example, in Luhansk Oblast, the Russians confiscated or destroyed wheat that amounted to three years of grain needs of the region's residents. This is the only oblast where planting has not started.
In the Zaporizhzhia Oblast, grain is disappearing from ports, and the occupiers blackmail farmers and demand them to give up 70% of their harvest to the occupiers.
It is known that in Kherson Oblast Russian occupiers robbed a grain silo and exported 20,000 tons of grain to Russia, and in mid-April they appropriated the land and property of the enterprises "Agro-Spivdruzhnist" and "Spivdruzhnist-South."
