Iran, 'Main Buyer of Stolen Ukrainian Grain' from Russia

About six months after the start of Russia's military invasion of Ukraine and the occupation of much of the southern regions of the country, which are among the most fertile agricultural areas in the world, a Russian official declared Iran to be the largest buyer of grain from this region. Two and a half years into the war, while southern Ukraine remains under Russian occupation, a Wall Street Journal report has revealed new details about the 'economic war that is ongoing alongside the battles' and again mentions the Iranian government and entities related to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as the main buyers of agricultural products looted from Ukraine. Ukraine has consistently urged countries around the world not to purchase the stolen grain, and according to Ukrainian officials, Egypt, Israel, and Lebanon have canceled contracts for grain purchases that were sent from the occupied territories of Ukraine, but Iran and Syria do not accept the imposed restrictions. While official representatives of the Islamic Republic continue to claim neutrality in the war against Ukraine and deny sending weapons to Russia, a member of the National Security and Foreign Policy Commission of the Islamic Consultative Assembly recently claimed that Iran is bartering missiles and suicide drones for Russian grain. In June 2023, leaked hacked documents revealed Iran's name among the customers of the looted Ukrainian grain by the Russians. According to the new Wall Street Journal report, Russia has profited at least one billion dollars from the sale of grain stolen from the occupied territories of Ukraine. To this end, a complex network of real and legal entities has been established that profits from the continuation of the war. Pascal Turlan, director of the non-profit organization 'Project Expedite Justice,' which collaborates with the Ukrainian Attorney General's Office on grain theft, told the Wall Street Journal: 'Illegal trade has generated income that helps sustain the conflict and strengthen Russia's control over the occupied areas.' According to a document obtained by 'Kyiv News,' a Ukrainian project collecting evidence about Russia's economic activities in the occupied territories of Ukraine, a Russian company established to sell grain from the Zaporizhia region has donated over 10 million rubles, equivalent to 111 thousand dollars, to the Russian battalion stationed in this area. U.S. government documents indicate that most of the illegal grain trade from Ukraine is conducted by three large ships that are ultimately connected to their main owner – a state-owned shipbuilding company; this company has also built a fleet that is used to bombard Ukrainian cities. According to the Wall Street Journal, the illegal grain trade begins on Ukrainian farms, where Russian soldiers force farmers to sell their products below market value or deliver their cargo out of fear of execution. Bohdan Katryniak, who previously owned several silos in the Kherson region, told the Wall Street Journal that in the summer of 2022, a group of Russian soldiers with masks on their faces and armed entered his office and ordered him to hand over his grain cargo according to the decrees of the Russian security service. This Ukrainian businessman fled to the area controlled by the Ukrainian army that night and shortly afterward learned that his silos had been looted. Russian officials, who claim that four Ukrainian provinces have been annexed to Russian territory, do not hide the trade of agricultural products from the occupied region, but if this cargo is delivered to countries that are allies of Ukraine and the West, the documents are often forged. According to official Russian government documents, in the first six months of this year, 15 ships carrying 81 thousand tons of wheat were sent from the occupied port of Mariupol to Turkey. Ukrainian prosecutor Ihor Popovchun has monitored the Turkish-flagged ship 'Osko,' which he suspects played a role in transferring stolen agricultural products, and when this ship entered Ukrainian waters, it was inspected by Ukrainian security officers, uncovering documents related to the transfer of 2,100 tons of wheat and animal feed worth over half a million dollars. Ukraine has seized this ship, but according to the Wall Street Journal, its owners have refrained from any response. The Turkish Foreign Ministry has announced that trade with the occupied territories of Ukraine is prohibited and Ankara is cooperating with Ukraine to prevent this. Markiyan Demchyshyn, Deputy Minister of Agriculture of Ukraine, noted that accurately assessing the volume of Russia's illegal trade under wartime conditions is impossible, stating: 'Since 2022, Russia has sold at least four million tons of agricultural products worth over 800 million dollars from the occupied territories of Ukraine in the international market.' However, according to the civil organization 'Texty' based in Kyiv, official estimates do not include products transported by land or small ships, while most of the grain from the occupied territories of Ukraine has been transferred this way. Experts from this organization believe that the total value of looted agricultural products may reach six billion and four hundred million dollars. According to international organizations' statistics, before the war, Ukraine supplied 10 percent of the world's wheat, 15 percent of corn, 13 percent of barley, and over 50 percent of sunflower oil. The main buyer of Ukrainian wheat was Egypt, while China, Spain, and the Netherlands topped the list of Ukrainian corn buyers, and China was also the main buyer of barley from Ukraine. In 2021, Iran sourced about 40 percent of its sunflower oil from Ukraine. In the summer of 2022, coinciding with the first reports of Iranian drones being sent to Russia, then-Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba stated after a phone call with his Iranian counterpart Hossein Amir-Abdollahian that Tehran not only denied arming the Russian army but also promised not to purchase agricultural products that Russia illegally exports from the occupied territories of Ukraine. However, a month after this phone conversation, Iranian Shahed drones were used for the first time in Ukraine, and thousands of these suicide drones have caused extensive casualties and destruction, including Russia using these drones to target Ukraine's agricultural and port infrastructure. Last summer, the investigative group Bellingcat tracked the route of two ships carrying grain from the port of Sevastopol to Imam Khomeini Port. A few months later, this group's report, based on satellite images and data from Lloyd's, revealed that the ships 'Mikhail Manashov,' 'Matros Shevchenko,' and 'Zafar,' which operate under the Russian flag, are involved in smuggling grain to Iran and Syria, although they constantly turn off their transponders. According to the Wall Street Journal, Mikhail Ganaga, the son of the governor of Crimea, owns the company 'Agro-Fregat,' which conducts illegal trade with Israel, Syria, and Iran. The Wall Street Journal also tracked the transfer of grain from Crimea for the Houthis in Yemen by the ship 'Zafar,' identifying Yemen as a new market for Russia's illegal sales. The Wall Street Journal and Bellingcat have found multiple images of Igor Rudetsky in Iran on social media; official documents refer to him as the head of several maritime transport companies and the manager of a silo in Crimea. One of these images shows him at the Foundation of the Oppressed, and another at Pars Holding Agricultural Company. This Russian official told reporters that he visited Iran as a member of a Russian trade delegation and denied his company's role in supplying the 'ghost fleet' transporting looted grain from Ukraine to Iran for the Russian government. It appears that Iran's support for Russia in the war against Ukraine, which has opened a new chapter in bilateral relations and forced Moscow to view Tehran as a serious partner, has also impacted grain trade between the two countries. Last year's statistics indicate that the Iranian government purchased grain at prices higher than usual from Russia (this situation has been attributed mainly to Iran's massive debts to Russia in recent years and Russian traders' reluctance to deal with this country), but now the conditions may have changed in favor of Tehran, as estimated by Kateryna Yarskaya from the analytical company SeaKrime based in Kyiv, Iran is purchasing barley from Crimea at a 34 percent discount compared to global prices. Official representatives of the Islamic Republic have consistently denied delivering weapons to Russia.