Russia exports stolen Ukrainian grain to Türkiye, Libya and Israel, investigation reveals

A Russian state-owned company exported almost 212,000 tonnes of grain from the occupied part of Zaporizhzhia Oblast in 2023 alone, worth an estimated US$46 million. Ukrainian grain is being shipped to Türkiye, Libya, and Israel. European companies are also involved in the process.

Source: NGL.media, a Ukrainian news outlet covering journalistic investigations, after having analysed Russian export data

Details: "Naturally, the analysis of such grey trade has its limitations, therefore, this data is by no means exhaustive. We can assert such a volume thanks to the data of customs declarations, where the exporter or declarant appears to be the Russian State Grain Operator, the main exporter of grain from the occupied territories," the investigation says.

The investigation reveals that the Russians set up the State Grain Operator (SGO) in the occupied city of Melitopol in mid-May 2022, less than three months into Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

It is emphasised that the SGO seized most of the land, grain processing facilities and agricultural machinery in the occupied part of Zaporizhzhia Oblast.

The company was subject to US sanctions in early 2023, followed by sanctions imposed by Ukraine and the UK. However, the SGO successfully circumvented these restrictions by engaging in international trade through shell companies.

The SGO exported 212,000 tonnes of Ukrainian grain in 2023 alone, estimated at US$46 million.

A total of 145,000 tonnes of this grain was exported directly by the SGO, with almost 67,000 more tonnes exported through Russian shell companies, where the SGO is listed as a declarant, based on data from Market Inside, an international database of export-import operations.

It is noted that the SGO operates through a network of Russian shell companies – Agrogroup, Samson, Tesori Della Terra, Global Trade and Genidi Group.

In addition, Ukrainian grain is sold on foreign markets by the affiliated firms Tesori Della Terra, established by Irina Kurganskaya, and Samson, where Tesori holds an 80% stake in the share capital.

Although Tesori Della Terra was registered only in September 2023, this company had exported over 18,000 tonnes of grain by the end of the year, journalists stated, citing customs data.

In particular, the company exported 6,600 tonnes of sunflower seeds worth US$2.3 million to UAE-based Mercalix Trade Dmcc in December, data from Market Inside shows. The customs data for this batch of sunflower seeds indicates the declarant as a general business entity. In two other shipments to Tesori Della Terra for Mercalix Trade Dmcc, the sanctioned SGO is listed as both the exporter and the declarant.

The journalists asked Mercalix Trade Dmcc to comment on these shipments. In response, the UAE-based company said it had only one contract with Tesori Della Terra, which was cancelled after obtaining information that the vessel used to transport the grain was subject to sanctions "due to certain activities".

Investigators also found that the grain exported by the SGO to foreign companies is loaded at the Port Kavkaz, located in the internationally recognised territory of Russia on the Kerch Strait, Krasnodar Krai. This makes it possible to indicate in customs documents that "the country of origin of the grain is Russia".

In addition, the company can ship grain through seized Ukrainian ports in Berdiansk or Mariupol, which is much closer to the occupied city of Melitopol, where the company is based.

It is also noted that the largest buyer of grain from Russian companies, where the SGO is a declarant and often an exporter, is the Turkish company Trans World Agro Tarim Ihracat Ithalat Limited Sirketi (Trans World Agro). It has imported almost 134,000 tonnes of grain worth US$28.6 million.

Trans World Agro was established in December 2022 by Israeli citizen Leon Mase, and Ukrainian citizen Leonid Pashkovskyi became the director of this formally Turkish company.

Leonid Pashkovsky, 64 years old, was once a well-known person. In 1998, he won the Ukrainian parliamentary elections in the Kherson electoral district No 184.

NGL.media’s source said that Leonid Pashkovskyi has been out of Ukraine for two years. He crossed the Ukraine-Hungary border in March 2022 and has not returned to Ukraine since.

The second largest buyer of Ukrainian grain, following the customs declarations, is Daliland Alliance Ltd, registered in the Marshall Islands.

Daliland Alliance Ltd is registered in the offshore zone of the Marshall Islands, so the company's owners are hidden – the only known information is that it has existed since 2019. The company does not provide any contact information to the public.

The third largest company is the Swiss company Vivalon AG, whose involvement in the export of Ukrainian grain has already caught the attention of the most influential Swiss newspaper Neue Zürcher Zeitung, NGL.media writes.

It is noted that the heads of the SGO, Nikita Busel and Alexey Dzhurkin, are suspected under Article 438 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (violation of the laws and customs of war). Their case is being considered by the Shevchenkivskyi District Court of Kyiv.

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