Cereals from the Russian-occupied areas of Zaporizhia and Khersonskaya are being looted, according to the BBC’s Russian service.
Cereals from the areas occupied by the Russian troops Zaporizhia and Khersonskaya are being looted, according to the Russian service of the BBC.
The grain is transported to Crimea by train and special trucks, writes the Russian service of the BBC. The Ukrainian authorities characterize looting the export of grain from the areas occupied by the Russians.
At least some of the silos coming from these areas, in the Kerch area and on the Jankoge-Simferopol road, were found to be trucks with Ukrainian license plates, Radio Svoboda (Radio Liberty) wrote. In some motorcades there were five to ten trucks at a time, each carrying 30-50 tons of grain.
However, as the BBC points out, trucks are not enough. From the beginning of June in the specialized chat rooms of the Telegram application, where agricultural producers or intermediaries are looking for silo vehicles, advertisements for the transport of agricultural products outside Ukraine appear. In one of these ads there was a report that during the transfer, there will be military escort on Ukrainian territory.
The owner of the transport company from Novovrosisk “Aftoplius”, Aleftina Pontina, told the BBC journalist that “there are volumes”, but the payment for the transfer is made in cash. The BBC reporter called her pretending to be the owner of a silo truck, who would like to place an order. Evpatoria resident Igor Atrashenko, a freight forwarder, said on June 8 that his own “kids” had been transporting grain from Russian-occupied areas to warehouses in Zhankogo for more than a month. Generally in the convoy that reaches up to 13 trucks, all four have Ukrainian license plates.
Atrashenko boasted that his own silos crossed the border in half an hour, while others waited in line for 12-20 hours. The existence of queues was also confirmed by the businessman Nikolai Riabis, to whom the BBC journalist called pretending to be someone who is ready to transport Ukrainian grain.
BBC reporters confirm the queue of trucks at the administrative borders of Crimea and in the southern part of Ukraine with satellite photos. However, checkpoints are being checked, although Russia currently controls both areas. In addition to Djankoje, in the Telegram chats there are ads that the grain is being transported to the port of Sevastopol.
Crimean Governor Sergei Aksyonov has claimed that the region is self-sufficient in grain, but what is exported from the regions of Ukraine that have fallen to the Russians “They are transiting through the Crimea and then end up in Sevastopol for sale “. Part of the exported grain undoubtedly belongs to the Ukrainian state, another part to farmers and agricultural consortia.
The BBC points out that some of the farmers start selling grain so as not to get lost. Riabis assured a BBC reporter that only grain sold by farmers was transported from Ukraine. The same was claimed by another BBC interlocutor, to whom the journalist called to confirm this view.
The Russian Ministry of Agricultural Economy did not answer a BBC question about Ukraine’s cereals.
The Council of Ministers adopted conclusions on Monday on Team Europe’s response to the global food insecurity, noting that the unprovoked and unjustified Aggressive war in Russia against Ukraine has catastrophic consequences for the Ukrainian people, but also for people around the world.
EU High Representative Josep Borrell calls Russia’s blockade of Ukrainian grain exports “A real war crime”, clarifying that the bloc’s sanctions in Russia play no role in the global food crisis. Borel said “it is not European sanctions” that “create this crisis”.
Russia’s war in Ukraine could lead up to 49 million people in famine or famine conditions due to its devastating impact on global supply and food prices, according to the United Nations.
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