Reuters: Ukraine asks EU to impose sanctions on Bangladeshi firms for importing stolen grain
Ukraine plans to appeal to the European Union to impose sanctions against companies from Bangladesh that, according to Ukraine, are buying grain from territories temporarily occupied by Russia. This was reported by Reuters, citing informed sources.
According to the agency, the Ukrainian side has repeatedly sent diplomatic letters to the government of Bangladesh, warning about the illegality of importing grain from territories occupied by the Russians.
This concerns more than 150,000 tons of grain, which, according to Ukraine, were taken from the port of Kavkaz in Russia. Despite these warnings, there was no reaction from Dhaka.
"This is a crime," stressed Oleksandr Polischuk, the Ukrainian ambassador to India. He noted that Ukraine is already preparing materials for the investigation, which will be passed on to European partners with a request to take appropriate measures.
Ukraine accuses Russia of systematically exporting grain from occupied regions since 2014. Russia claims that these territories have supposedly "become Russian forever," and therefore does not recognize these actions as theft.
The letters from the Ukrainian diplomatic mission, which came into the possession of journalists, name specific ships, their registration numbers, routes, and dates of grain shipment from the ports of Sevastopol, Kerch, and Berdiansk to the Russian port of Kavkaz, and from there to Bangladesh.
The Ukrainian embassy last addressed the Bangladeshi government on June 11, 2025, warning of the risk of international sanctions – not only for private importers, but also for officials who knowingly support illegal trade.
An official at Bangladesh's Ministry of Food said Dhaka would ban imports from Russia if the grain originated from occupied Ukrainian territory, adding that the country would not import stolen wheat.
However, according to Ukrainian intelligence, Russia is mixing grain from occupied territories with its own to make it difficult to determine the origin during export.
"It's not diamonds or gold. The composition of impurities does not allow us to identify [ed. – the origin of the grain]," a Russian trader admitted in a comment to Reuters.
- In September 2024, it was reported that since 2022, Russia, together with its allies, had sold stolen grain from occupied Ukrainian territories for nearly $1 billion.