Russia increases wheat exports from occupied Crimea to Syria by 17 times - Reuters

Reuters reports this with reference to data from the trade and information platform Refinitiv.

It is noted that the sanctions significantly complicate the transportation of goods between Syria and Russia by ordinary sea transport. Marine insurance is also becoming more complicated. Because of this, both countries began to rely more and more on their own ships to transport grain. This is how three Syrian ships, on which the US has imposed sanctions, are used for this purpose.

According to information from the Refinitiv platform, by the end of November 2022, Syria imported about 501,800 tonnes of wheat from the temporarily occupied Sevastopol. In 2021, the country received more than 28,000 tons of wheat. Also, according to data from port inspections, cargoes began to increase from May onwards. The largest batch was recorded in October and amounted to 78,600 tons.

The Embassy of Ukraine in Beirut, which monitors the goods arriving in Syria, is convinced that 500,000 tons of agricultural products were illegally exported by Russia from the territory of Ukraine. The embassy noted that this information and the statement of the Ukrainian authorities about grain theft were based on data provided by the owners of fields in the temporarily occupied territories. They are also confirmed by satellite information on the movement of trucks to ports and ship tracking data.

Russia, while agreeing that part of the grain was exported from the occupied districts of the Zaporizhia region, rejects the accusation of food theft. Thus, in May 2022, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov called these accusations "fake".